Important Message to the Brain Injury Association of Canada Community

BMO-Bank of Montreal Welcomes Extension of 2008 RDSP contribution deadline; Phones at BMO call centre ringing off the hook as people with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities eager to open RDSP accounts.

TORONTO, December 23, 2008 “BMO” Bank of Montreal applauds the federal government’s decision to extend the deadline for opening a Registered Disability Savings Plan, making contributions and applying for the matching Grant and the income-tested Bond for the 2008 contribution year to March 2, 2009.

BMO Bank of Montreal is the first bank to offer Canadians the RDSP, a new federal government initiative introduced to enhance the long-term financial security of people with disabilities.
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NEWS RELEASE, December 18, 2008

GATINEAU, Québec – With the holiday season upon Canadians, the Brain Injury Association of Canada (BIAC) urges one and all to bear in mind that car crashes are the number one cause of acquired brain injury. Drivers who resist ‘holiday’ egg nog and other alcoholic drinks greatly reduce their risk of being involved in an accident which may harm them and others.

“At this time of year our call for safety is tied to reducing car crashes, and thus the number of people who become brain injury survivors,” explains BIAC executive director, Harry Zarins. Mothers Against Drunk Driving reveal that over 47% (2005 statistics) of North American car accidents occurring during the last week of December are caused by impaired driving.

Driving while drunk increases your chances of reacting too slowly to avoid even a slow-moving accident. Even a mild blow to the head can result in a lifelong, silent and unseen acquired brain injury; and serve as a sobering reminder that that nip of festive cheer wasn’t worth it—to you, or your family and friends. If you choose to drink, choose not to drive. BIAC strongly supports and applauds organizations, such as Operation Nez Rouge/Operation Red Nose.

Treating preventable injuries, such as acquired brain injury, costs Canadians $14.7 billion per year. This sum further compromises Canadian business in these economic times, lowers our standard of living, and strains our publicly funded health care system.

The Brain Injury Association of Canada wishes all Canadians a safe and happy holiday season.

Contributions to the Brain Injury Association can be made directly via our Donations Page, or through CanadaHelps.org.

BIAC is funded by the generosity of donors, as well as sponsors of its national Hawaiian Oyster Odyssey events.

For more information, please contact:
Harry Zarins, Executive Director
Brain Injury Association of Canada
1-866-977-2493
harry.zarins@biac-aclc.ca

Fall 2008 Newsletter
Website

DUNLOPS PLAYER SUFFERS SEVERE HEAD INJURY IN FIGHT from TSN
A 21-year-old member of the Whitby Dunlops Senior hockey team remains in critical condition in Hamilton General Hospital with a severe head injury suffered Friday night when his head struck the ice in a fight in Brantford, Ont.

Don Sanderson, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound defenceman who attends York University, is in a coma, according to the Dunlops’ official website. The site’s last update at 11:05am et today said there was some optimism this morning after some movement was detected in Sanderson’s arm.

A member of the Dunlops who was interviewed on a Toronto radio station earlier in the day said Anderson “is on life support.”

Sanderson fought Brantford’s Corey Fulton at 2:14 of the third period. Both players were assessed fighting majors and game misconducts. Fighting in the Major League Hockey, formerly known as Ontario Senior A, is punishable with automatic ejection from the game. According to witnesses, Sanderson’s helmet came off as part of the fight and both players fell to the ice, with Sanderson’s head striking the ice surface.

Sanderson, a native of Port Perry, Ont., played in the Ontario Provincial Junior Hockey League for the Ajax Attack and Trenton Sting.

The Dunlops played Saturday night – beating Orillia/Coldwater 9-4 – with No. 40 stickers on their helmets and Sanderson’s No. 40 sweater hung up over the bench.

The Halifax Chronicle Herald, TIM ARSENAULT REMOTE CONTROL, Sat. Dec 13 – 5:53 AM

THE STORY of Captain Trevor Greene’s ongoing recovery from a savage axe attack in Afghanistan had a natural appeal for Vancouver filmmaker Sue Ridout.

“I, like just about every other Canadian, remembers very clearly the headlines about Trevor being attacked in the first place. I think it struck all of us at that time. It really stood out in terms of the stories that came back from Afghanistan around that period of time,” she said during a phone interview from Vancouver.

“He wasn’t sort of your normal stereotypical soldier, if there is such a thing. . . . The irony is that he was there really to help the villagers, more so than to be there in the interests of security. He was really there to kind of reach out to them and he was the one, of all the group, that was attacked.”
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FOR RELEASE: December 12, 2008

GATINEAU, Québec – The Brain Injury Association of Canada (BIAC) salutes a recent policy requiring all of BC Hockey’s minor hockey coaches and on-ice personnel to wear a Canadian Standards Association approved helmet during all BC Hockey sanctioned events. BIAC congratulates and supports all sporting associations who adopt helmet regulations for minor hockey coaches.

The new regulation, which went into effect December 1st, 2008, had been in the works for some time, and is meant to prevent the kinds of head injuries which saw one coach slip, hit the ice, and fracture his skull, while another similar accident put a second coach in a coma. A tragic third incident, this past October, saw Strathmore midget AAA coach Ron Ebbesen die after falling to the ice and striking his head.
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New York Times – By BENEDICT CAREY

He knew his name. That much he could remember.

He knew that his father’s family came from Thibodaux, La., and his mother was from Ireland, and he knew about the 1929 stock market crash and World War II and life in the 1940s.

But he could remember almost nothing after that.

In 1953, he underwent an experimental brain operation in Hartford to correct a seizure disorder, only to emerge from it fundamentally and irreparably changed. He developed a syndrome neurologists call profound amnesia. He had lost the ability to form new memories.
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Victoria Times Colonist, By Sandra McCulloch, December 5, 2008

To look at Trevor Greene today, his blue eyes sparkling with life and intelligence as he sits in a wheelchair in his Nanaimo home, you’d never guess he’s the same Canadian soldier who was nearly killed on March 4, 2006, at the hands of an axe-wielding Afghan.

The attack horrified Canadians for its viciousness, and left Greene immobile and unable to speak.

Other people caught in similar circumstances might spend years simmering in anger.
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BIAC is pleased to announce a partnership with Boulevard Travel in Calgary, Alberta.

Boulevard Travel will be supporting BIAC by contributing a portion of their service fee back to BIAC for all travel booked under the BIAC Brand be it for BIAC, your business or personal travel. All you have to do is say that you are a BIAC member or Friend of BIAC and they will credit our association.

As well, when the BIAC reaches a specific level, Boulevard Travel will contribute a significant door prize towards the HOO’S National 2nd or 3rd prize.

To book your travel needs contact Jan Wainwright at 403-802-4272 or e-mail her at janw@boulevardtravel.com or at 1-800-760-4009

On behalf of the Brain Injury Association of Canada, I would like to thank Boulevard Travel and its President, Kevin Murphy, President for their support.

Hawaiian Oyster Odysseys (HOO)

Learn more about our Hawaiian Oyster Odyssey fund-raising dinners held annually in every province!
Hawaiian Oyster Odysseys (HOO)

Download the Toronto HOO Invitation!
Toronto Hawaiian Oyster Odyssey Invitation (pdf-569kb)