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Professionals TBI Toolkit:

  P r e v e n t i o n

Seattle Seahawks and The Brain Injury Association of Washington team up to protect our young athletes against Concussion!

 Brock Huard
Spokesperson Brock Huard!

Washington Heads Up: Concussion in Youth Sports Campaign

To prevent primary and secondary brain injuries by young people engaged in youth sports throughout Washington State.

Sponsored by

Target audience: adult personnel of middle and high school athletic departments – coaches, team doctors, athletic directors (AD), and certified athletic directors (ATC), parents, and student athletes.

Campaign Components:

Brock HuardSpokesman: Brock Huard, former quarterback for the University of Washington and -  in the NFL- for the Seattle Seahawks and  the Indianapolis Colts.  In addition to his current position as Project Director for Nitze-Stagen, Huard also does radio and television commentary for ESPN, Pop Warner football specials live from Disney's Wide World of Sports, or commentary on NFL preseason games for the NFL Network.

Campaign Kick-off took place on March 15 before 480 athletic trainers at the Northwest Athletic Trainers Association (NWATA) Annual Meeting and Clinical Symposium in Bellevue, Washington.

Campaign Materials and Resources: thanks to the CDC, the BIAWA and the Seattle Seahawks are offering free materials such as posters, CDs, printed materials, and clip boards for every middle or high school in Washington. Materials are being distributed at school sports-related conferences and letters will be going out to every high school coach in Washington.

Sports Concussion Toolkits from CDC: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with the support of partners and experts in the field, has developed a tool kit for coaches titled, Heads Up: Concussion in High School Sports. Click here to learn more

Conference Presentations and Materials Distribution in 2008:

  • Northwest Athletic Trainers Association (NWATA) Annual Meeting and Clinical Symposium, March 15, Bellevue
  • Washington Secondary School Athletic Administrators Association (WSSAAA),  Spokane
  • Whiplash and Spinal Trauma Conference
  • BIAWA Legal Seminar, June 6
  • Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, August
  • Washington State Coaches Association

Consensus Statement: The Washington Heads Up Program: Concussion in Youth Sport consensus statement discusses the definition and symptoms of sports concussion, the management of sports concussions including return to play decisions, and the short and long term consequences of sports concussions.

Media Outreach: Campaign Spokesman Brock Huard will be featured in a Public Service Announcement (PSA) to air over television later this year. This PSA is to increase awareness that concussion is a brain injury and should be taken seriously. 

Regional Medical Conference: scheduled for early 2009.

Campaign Committee (in formation)

Stanley A. Herring, MD,
Team Physician
Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Mariners
Clinical Professor Departments Of Rehabilitation Medicine, Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, and Neurological Surgery
University of Washington
School of Medicine

Brock Huard, Project Director
Nitze-Stagen

Kevin Griffin, Director of Fan Development
Seattle Seahawks

Richard Adler, Esq. President
Brain Injury Association of Washington

Gene van den Bosch, MA, MPA, Executive Director
Brain Injury Association of Washington

Patrick Jenkins MA, ATC, CES
Head Athletic Trainer

University
of
Washington

Mike Obergottsberger, ATC, President
Washington State Athletic Trainers’ Association (WSATA)

A Special Plea Concerning Crying Babies

Research indicates that as many as 50% of teenagers and young adults are completely unaware that shaking a baby can cause brain injury or death to an infant.

The complete story on this can be found on the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome web site at http://www.dontshake.com

One of the things you can do to help prevent a tragedy is to spread the word about how to calm a crying baby.  Believe it or not there IS a way to do just that, provided by Dr. Harvey Karp, author of "The Happiest Baby On the Block".

To see Dr. Karp's simple five-step technique for calming a crying baby, click on this picture...

Baby Reading the Good News!
How to calm a crying baby

More Valuable Prevention Links

 

Brain Injury Can be Prevented!!

Many of the brain injuries that occur annually in this country can be prevented. Each year 140,000 persons die from brain injuries and 70,000 persons sustain severe brain injuries.

A brain injury is an insult to the brain caused by an external force, which may impair cognitive, physical, behavioral, and emotional functions.

Brain injury rehabilitation is a long process that is measured in years rather than months. Many persons with severe brain injuries face a wide range of lifelong problems. These problems, in turn, can dramatically affect an individual's ability to live independently, care for a family, and work.

The true extent of brain injury is conveyed by numbers. Lives, hopes, dreams, families, and friendships are often altered in the wake of a brain injury. Research, rehabilitation, public awareness, and PREVENTION can help to lessen the occurrence to brain injuries in our society.


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Brain Injury Association of Washington
3516 S. 47th Street, Suite 100
Tacoma, WA 98409
Tel 253.238.6085
Fax 253.238.1042
Toll Free Helpline: 1-800-523-5438(LIFT)
Email: info@biawa.org

TBI Washington Information and Referral Line:
1-877-TBI-1766 (1-877-824-1766)
In case of technical difficulties, call: 253-238-6085, or 425-778-3707