Over the past week, you may have seen news reports suggesting that health care reform is in serious jeopardy. WE MUST INSIST THAT CONGRESS COMPLETE HEALTH CARE REFORM NOW!

Too many Americans with disabilities and chronic conditions are not well served by the current system and will make tremendous gains through enactment of health care reform.

Take action NOW! Starting TODAY and continuing until the final votes on legislation, call your members of Congress and tell them NOT TO GIVE UP ON AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES AND CHRONIC CONDITIONS! TELL THEM THAT YOU WANT THEM TO CONTINUE FIGHTING FOR HEALTH CARE REFORM!!!

• Health care reform will end discrimination based on health status in the private market – discrimination that currently leaves millions of vulnerable Americans uninsured
• Health care reform will include new, affordable voluntary long term care insurance coverage—the CLASS Act—and expand Medicaid coverage for home and community based services
• Health care reform will expand Medicaid eligibility and provide subsidies in the private market, creating more affordable coverage for people with disabilities
• Health care reform will prohibit annual and lifetime limits on coverage so that individuals with serious conditions will not be forced into medical bankruptcy
  CALL THE CAPITOL SWITCHBOARD AT 800-828-0498. (If you can’t get through on the 800 number, call the Capitol switchboard (202-224-3121) or your member’s district office.)

Tell your Senators and Representatives that NOW is the time for Congress to complete meaningful health care reform that prevents discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions, includes the CLASS Act and expands coverage of Medicaid home and community based services.

People with disabilities and their families cannot wait any longer for relief!

March 17, 2010: Sports and Concussion

The Brain Injury Association of America encourages state affiliate leaders and advocates across the country to participate in Brain Injury Awareness Day at events hosted by the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force on Capitol Hill.

Schedule of Events:

10:00 AM – 1:00 PM:        Brain Injury Awareness Fair

First Floor Foyer of the Rayburn House Office Building

2:30 PM – 4:00 PM            Brain Injury Briefing

“From the Playground to the Pros: A Heads-Up on Concussion”

Capitol Visitors Center – Congressional Meeting Room South

5:30 PM – 7:30 PM            Reception Celebrating Brain Injury Awareness Month

First Floor Foyer of the Rayburn House Office Building

If you plan to exhibit at the fair, attend the briefing or reception, please RSVP to Mandy Spears in Congressman Pascrell’s office at mandy.spears@mail.house.gov.

Congressional Visits:

BIAA strongly encourages everyone who plans to attend Brain Injury Awareness Day to make appointments with their Representatives and Senators to advocate for improved access to care and research. Please follow these steps to schedule appointments with your Representative and Senators:

1.      Identify Representative & Senators

To find your representative, visit www.house.gov , type in zip code to locate your representative. Click on the link for your representative’s Web site, where you will find their address and phone number. To find your senators, visit www.senate.gov, select state and view your senators’ Web sites for address and phone number.

2.      Telephone Your Representative & Senators to Schedule Appointment

Call the main number listed in the Web sites for your Senators and Representative. Ask to meet with the health legislative assistant (House) or the health policy staff (Senate).

• Make sure to let them know that you are a constituent
• Ask them for a few minutes of their time on March 17, 2010 to discuss the need for increased resources for brain injury programs in their state.

Example :

“Hello, my name is ______________________ . I am a constituent of yours and will be visiting Capitol Hill on Wednesday, March 17th as part of Brain Injury Awareness Day. Could I have a few minutes on that day to talk to you about (state’s) brain injury resources and how they affect the brain injury community in your district/state?”

Schedule appointments 60-90 minutes apart so that you have time to get from one office building to another. A map of the key House and Senate buildings can be found at: http://www.aoc.gov/cc/cc_map.cfm.  Leave plenty of time for security lines and to eat or rest between visits. Remember, too, that Congressional staff may run behind in their appointments.

3.      Advise BIAA and your State BIA of your plans

Since there may be other people from your state or district planning to attend Awareness Day, it is very important for you to contact your state Brain Injury Association to let them know  you’ve scheduled congressional visits. (You can find your state association office on BIAA’s Web site at  http://www.biausa.org/stateoffices.htm.) Please inform Sarah D’Orsie, BIAA’s Director of Government Relations, at 703-761-0750 ext. 637 or sdorsie@biausa.org of your plans too.

4.      Prepare for the Appointment

Members of Congress and their staff are very busy. Many times, they only have 10-20 minutes available for a constituent visit. It is important for advocates to tell their story quickly and to make specific requests for improvements in treatment, research and other services for both civilian and military populations.

Each year, BIAA produces fact sheets on its legislative priorities. BIAA asks advocates to use the information in the fact sheets when describing the challenges individuals with brain injury and family caregivers face. Advance copies of the fact sheets will be available from BIAA’s Web site at http://www.biausa.org/policyissues.htm beginning on March 2, 2010. Professionally printed versions of each fact sheet along with other helpful information will be available from BIAA’s booth at the Awareness Fair. Please stop by our booth to pick up these materials before your appointment.

***IMPORTANT NOTE***
COORDINATE YOUR COMMENTS

Please plan to start each meeting by handing out the fact sheets and then making comments on the issues most important to you. If you will be making visits with others, it is a good idea to coordinate what each person in the group will discuss so that you don’t repeat information and so that each person gets a chance to talk. Remember to leave time for questions too. If you don’t know the answer to a question, promise to follow up and then do so!

5.      After the Visit

Please be sure to send a thank-you note to each person/office you visited. Also please let Sarah D’Orsie know what was discussed and if follow-up information was requested.

Navigating Capitol Hill

If you are coming in from out of town and require a hotel room, below you will find a list of accommodations within a few miles of Capitol Hill:

Hyatt Regency, http://washingtonregency.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp
Courtyard, Marriott, http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/wasny-courtyard-washington-capitol-hill-navy-yard
Capitol Hill Suites, http://www.capitolhillsuites.com
Hotel George, http://www.hotelgeorge.com
Marriott, Residence Inn, http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/wascp-residence-inn-washington-dc-capitol

If you need assistance on Awareness Day itself, please come back to BIAA’s booth at the Awareness Fair or contact Sarah D’Orsie at 703-761-0750 ext. 637.

Thank you!

Some children and adolescents who suffer from a sports-related concussion may recover more slowly than adults. Therefore, clinical professionals have long recommended that rehabilitation programs specific for children be developed.

The Montreal Children’s Hospital Trauma Programs developed a set of guidelines specific for children, called the Montreal Children’s Hospital Rehabilitation After Concussion (MCH-RAC). Instead of the typical path of physical and cognitive evaluations that may allow an adult athlete to return to the sport quickly, the MCH-RAC provides a gradually active and closely monitored program for children who are slow to recover.

A study of 16 children who were slow to recover (out of 142 who presented with sports-related concussion), showed that all 16 recovered significantly and quickly after participating in the MCH-RAC. Feelings of depression, headache, and fatigue rapidly improved, and the children were able to return to their normal lifestyle and sport.

Researchers at the Montreal Children’s Hospital therefore recommend a specialized treatment program of gradual, closely-supervised, active rehabilitation for children who are slow to recover from sports-related concussion.

Gagnon I, Galli C, Friedman D, et al. Active rehabilitation for children who are slow to recover following sport-related concussion. Brain Injury. (November 2009).