05-R 140

2005 -- S 0766

Enacted 03/29/05

S E N A T E R E S O L U T I O N

DECLARING MARCH TO BE "NATIONAL BRAIN INJURY AWARENESS MONTH"

Introduced By: Senators Blais, Algiere, Polisena, Roberts, and McCaffrey

Date Introduced: February 17, 2005

     WHEREAS, Brain injury is a serious national public health epidemic affecting at least

5.3 million Americans. Vehicle crashes are the leading cause of brain injury with falls being the

second leading cause. The risk of traumatic brain injury is highest among adolescents, young

adults and those older than 75; and

     WHEREAS, Every twenty-one seconds someone in the United States will sustain a

traumatic brain injury (TBI), which equals more than four thousand people daily; and

     WHEREAS, Each year at least fifty thousand Americans die from a brain injury and

another eighty thousand experience the onset of life-long disability as a result of sustaining a

brain injury; and

     WHEREAS, At least two thousand Rhode Islanders will suffer some level of brain injury

each year and each year in Rhode Island a brain injury occurs every hour; and

     WHEREAS, The cost of traumatic brain injury in the United States is estimated to be

$48.3 billion annually. Hospitalization accounts for $31.7 billion and fatal brain injuries cost the

nation 16.6 billion each year; and

     WHEREAS, The mission of the Brain Injury Association of America is to create a better

future through brain injury prevention, research, education and advocacy; and

     WHEREAS, In partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),

the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Defense Veterans Brain Injury

Center (DVBIC), the Brain Injury Association of America and the Brain Injury Association of

Rhode Island strive to increase brain injury awareness, thus making prevention and safety

measures part of the American culture in an effort to decrease the number of brain injuries; now,

therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

hereby declares March to be "National Brain Injury Awareness Month"; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and he hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to the Brain Injury Association of Rhode Island.

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LC02206

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