Stevenson Rallies to Raise Awareness of Brain Injuries
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Rep. Dick Stevenson spoke about the need to raise public awareness of brain injuries during a Capitol press conference on April 20. Stevenson is the co-chair of the House Brain Injury Caucus.
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To help raise awareness of traumatic brain injury, Rep. Dick Stevenson (R-Mercer/Butler) today joined colleagues at a press conference and rally at the state Capitol to advocate for legislation that would seek to prevent brain injury.
“Because the brain is such a complicated organ, doctors and researchers are still finding ways the brain reacts to certain injuries and conditions like stroke or high fever,” said Stevenson, who co-chairs the House’s Brain Injury Caucus. “To prevent brain injury from occurring, we need to raise awareness that brain injury is not just a bump on the head. Any impact or other medical conditions can disrupt neural pathways that can change the way a person thinks, feels and acts.”
Nearly 10 million Americans are living with acquired brain injury, and approximately 3.8 million sports-related and recreation-related concussions from trauma occur in the United States each year.
Stevenson said during the event that it is important to realize the signs and symptoms of traumatic brain injury can be subtle and may not appear until days or weeks after the injury or may even be missed.
“As we have learned from far too many cases, what we believe to be a simple bump on the head could result in serious brain injury or death,” he noted. “That is why we need to raise awareness of these types of injuries so that more people look for warning signs and seek appropriate treatment.”
To date, more than 130,000 Pennsylvanians are living with a long-term disability resulting from traumatic brain injury.
“Brain injury is the most prevalent injury of our troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we must be able to appropriately treat their injuries, not just on the front lines but when they return home,” Stevenson added. “The best approach to the silent epidemic of brain injury is to promote awareness, prevention and treatment of brain injuries. By working together, we can become more aware, further scientific research, and help patients who have suffered brain injury and their families.”
The press conference was part of Pennsylvania Brain Injury Legislative Day Press Conference, organized by the Pennsylvania Legislative Brain Injury Coalition. That group consists of members of the Brain Injury Association of Pennsylvania, the Acquired Brain Injury Network of Pennsylvania, Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Association of Rehabilitation Facilities.
The group also rallied support for greater state funding to help survivors of brain injury, pass House Bill 2060 to address brain injury and concussions in youth sports, and establish an Office of Brain Injury.
Stevenson was the sponsor of House Resolution 634 that passed the House this spring, to designate March 2010 as “Brain Injury Awareness Month” in Pennsylvania.
Rep. Dick Stevenson
8th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
(724) 458-4911
(717) 783-6438
Contact: Jennifer Algoe Keaton
jkeaton@pahousegop.com
(717) 705-2094
Member site: DickStevenson.com
Caucus site: PAHouseGOP.com