Brain Injury Awareness Month 2011

[Tom Tatlock]

Brain Injury Awareness Month 2011

What plans do you, and/or your state BIA affiliate have for Brain Injury Awareness Month

2011  Both you and your BIA will be included in “You”.

1. Have “You” contacted your local public radio stations, your public TV stations, or the

cable public access stations asking them to schedule, feature, or develop programs on
TBI? (See questions below.)

2. Have “You” contacted the health reporter or an editor at your local newspaper about

doing some articles on TBI?

a. Do “You” know of any persons, or family members who would be willing to featured in such a story?

b. Do “You” have the basic TBI information that should be included in a story?

c. Do “You” have a TBI expert to suggest to them for an interview?

d. How about articles in a “Free Shopper” or “Bargain Bulletin” type paper?

3. Commercial radio stations ---- options by age of audience, time of day, type of music

4. Distribution of Brain Injury Awareness posters by:

a. Members of TBI support groups

b. Please suggest other ideas

5. Scheduling speakers on TBI for:

a. Civic groups

b. Provider groups

c. How to get invited?

d. What to present and what to handout?

6. Involving other groups and organizations:

a. In the printing and distribution of BIAA Brain Injury Awareness Poster

1. HMOs, large medical clinics.

b. Co-presentations: VA staff, providers from other disciplines

7. Poster placement:

a. University departments of:

Social Work; Nursing; Special Education; Psychology; OT and PT

b. High Schools: Nurses, Coaches, Guidance Counselors, Social Workers

c. Local libraries and their affiliates

d. Shelters or programs for homelessness; domestic abuse; substance

abuse, and mental health clinics




8. Recommended Resources to use for different groups



9. Ideas for:


a. Rural Areas


b. Urban Areas 


c. Suburban Areas 



10. Please add YOUR ideas and suggestions.

Comment on what's worked & what hasn't.


Especially on hard to reach groups --- like physicians, etc. 



Thank you,

Tom

[Terry]

thanks for sharing that gives me lots to think of that i could be doing

[Maggie MM]

I thought it was January at first too Colleen. I looked it up, it's every March. More information at the Brain Injury Association of America website - www.biausa.org/biam.htm

[Tom Tatlock]

Hi,
It is Marrch ---- I just thought that we should be planning and organizing now.

Since my TBI, everything takes a longer time and more effort.

Sorry for the confusion. Please let me and others know your plans and ideas.

Also sen to BI-IFEA, a group on LinkedIn.

Thanks,

Tom

[Pete]

lots of great ideas thanks for sharing

[Richard]

thanks for the great info, awesome

[Josh Vincent]

Thank you for all the info. I am a new facilitator in Olympia, and I had some ideas and resources, yet you added more to that list.

[Autom]

thanks for posting this, i now have lots of ideas on how to do things in my community

[Ricky Myers]

great list we are working to make our community aware of brain injury awareness month

[Tara Smoot]

I'm thankful to see the month of March as Brain Injury Awareness Month, and the month of May as Hydrocephalus Awareness month. Hydrocephalus is the enlargement of the skull due to too much fluid on the brain. I'mm a survivor of both Hydrocephalus and TBI. My head grew one-quarter of an inch every three days for the first two-and-a-half months of my life. My heart reaches out for all of the survivors of TBI. My emotions extend out even more to people who acquired TBI much later in life and having to re-learn everything again as from the day of birth. I only hope that more of us survivors of TBI would really stick together and get the awareness out to the general society of what life is like while living with this chronic condition.

[Tom Tatlock]

A new possibility: Getting hospitals to put articles on TBI in the newsletters that they send to their employees.

The person in charge of rehabilitation services at a local hospital offered to include articles about BIAM and TBI in the newsletter that goes to 4,000 persons.

He also offered to print copies of the BIAA BIAM poster for our support group to distribute.

He said that they had a budget for community education and thought that this was a good idea and a good use of funds.

Have any of you asked your hospitals that have rehabilitation services to do this?

How about those that have BI support groups?

Please tell the rest of us about tour experience.
Thank you,
Tom

[Tara Smoot]

Tom, that's a great idea. It would sure be a big help to spread the awareness this way. I haven't gone to any hospita;s around Tacoma and Lakewood, but I do get the awareness out on UW/ Tacoma campus and I shared about it when I was a student with Pierce College/ Steilacoom campus. Schools and colleges need just as much awareness about TBI too.

Tom Tatlock said:

A new possibility: Getting hospitals to put articles on TBI in the newsletters that they send to their employees.

The person in charge of rehabilitation services at a local hospital offered to include articles about BIAM and TBI in the newsletter that goes to 4,000 persons.

He also offered to print copies of the BIAA BIAM poster for our support group to distribute.

He said that they had a budget for community education and thought that this was a good idea and a good use of funds.

Have any of you asked your hospitals that have rehabilitation services to do this?

How about those that have BI support groups?

Please tell the rest of us about tour experience.
Thank you,
Tom

[Tom Tatlock]

This is really in response to a question on a different site, so please excuse this addition if it is inappropriate.
Hi,
March is Brain Injury Awareness Month. This link will take you the BIAA,
(Brain Injury Association of America) site for information:

http://www.biausa.org/biam.htm

Brain Injury Awareness Month 2010

You can download posters, pamphlets, etc.

These links will take you to the CDC publications on TBI:

http://www.cdc.gov/concussion/sports/index.html

http://www.cdc.gov/TraumaticBrainInjury/index.html

The 1st for sports and TBI; the 2nd, more general information and a gateway to other information.
Hope that you find these useful.
Tom