Every nine seconds, someone in the United States injures their brain.
The Brain Injury Association of America (BIAUSA) also says more than 5 million people are living with some sort of traumatic brain injury and March is the time when BIAUSA wants to put those people in the spotlight.
March is considered Brain Injury Awareness Month. The name of the campaign until 2020 is #ChangeYourMind. BIAUSA says raising awareness is important for three reasons:
- De-stigmatizing brain injury through outreach within the brain injury community
- Empowering those who have survived brain injury and their caregivers
- Promoting the many types of support that are available to people living with brain injury
Last year, News 3 spoke with a brain injury patient at Spectrum Psychological in Virginia Beach.
"I could not comprehend words," said Rachel Lapinski, who told News 3 she suffered her third concussion from a fall. "I was an Ivy league graduate who turned into an Alzheimer`s patient."
Lapinski was undergoing a special kind of treatment that includes mapping the brain to look for injured areas and stimulating those areas with electromagnetic frequencies.
"If an individual is committed, they follow through - then we can see some real dramatic improvements," said Dr. C. Rick Ellis, a licensed clinical psychologist and neurotherapist at Spectrum Psychological. "We can train from 150 to 200 aspects of brain function at the same time."
This type of therapy is popular around the world, particularly with football players and other athletes struggling with a game-related brain injury.
To learn more about brain injuries and efforts to raise awareness, click HERE.
