Private member’s bill would establish standards for sport helmets

By Andrew Mitchell, Pique Magazine

A campaign that started out as a plea for national standards for ski and snowboard helmets has grown into a campaign for standards for all sports helmets, as well as a call for a national injury prevention program for youth.

According to Richard Kinar – who started out as a parent advocate for helmet safety and now has a leadership position on head injuries with the Canadian Standards Association and the Brain Injury Association of B.C. -he has met resistance from the federal government, the B.C. Ski Areas Association, ski resorts and others in implementing changes he knows will save lives and prevent injuries.
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ThinkFirst Canada Kicks Off Aviva Brain Day Across Canada

Toronto, March 13, 2009 – March hosts International Brain Awareness Week and ThinkFirst Canada is leading the charge in educating Canadians on how to prevent brain and spinal cord injuries. With traumatic brain injury as a leading cause of death for children in Canada, the national not-for-profit injury prevention organization is addressing this issue directly by teaching elementary students across the country how to prevent injury by using their brains to protect their bodies.
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Article from Seattle Times

The state Legislature has passed bills aimed at preventing traumatic brain injuries among young athletes.
By Chantal Anderson, Seattle Times staff reporter

OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON ‹ Zackery Lystedt’s last words to his father before falling silent for nine months: “Dad, I can’t see.”

The 13-year-old junior-high football player had chased a runner into the end zone and tumbled headfirst into the ground. The collision kept him on the sidelines for 15 minutes. But he went back into the game.
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Many Canadian children are enjoying time off from school this week and that means a lot of them are skiing, snowboarding, skating, and participating in other outdoor activities. It also means they may be at higher risk for injury, including a concussion or a more serious brain injury. Every year about 45,000 Canadians get a concussion. In the past, medical experts expected people suffering a single concussion to recover fairly quickly without serious long term problems. But recent studies are shedding new light on the long term effects of concussions. A Canadian study indicates that even one major concussion can result in poorer memory, decreased reaction times, and a decline in motor skills later in life.

The Canadian Physiotherapy Association (CPA) wants families to enjoy the outdoors this spring break but is reminding them to exercise caution when taking part in activities where they may be at risk for a head injury. CPA recommends the use of properly fitted, approved helmets for sports like tobogganing, snowboarding, skiing, cycling, and skateboarding. If every kid starts wearing a helmet on the slopes or on the ice during the holiday break, it’ll be pretty un-cool for their friends to go without!
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See segment is No. 408 and entitled “Knocking Heads” and which will air again this Friday March 6 at 8 a.m. ET on HD Net cable TV. It will be available on iTunes and eventually on DVD from www.hd.net/danrather.

In this issue:

• I Want to Thrive
• Peace of Mind
• We Asked for It
• ONF and REPAR
• In the Next Issue…
• Walk Your Way to a Healthier You
• Wave Hello to Good Vibrations
• The Consumer Connection

Winter 2009, Issue 6

Vol 4 No. 8, RFP# 7614-08-0006 – A Profile of People with Disabilities Not in the Labour Force in Canada, 2006

Vol 4 No. 7, RFP# 9829-08-0013 – Labour Market Adjustment: Evaluation Synthesis of Findings and Lessons Learned

Vol. 3, No. 18, Preliminary notice of requests for proposals for programs of research by teams of researchers in policy areas relevant to HRSDC

Head Protection; Gear is not created equal, and it’s time to set standards
Dr . Tim Rindlisbacher, National Post

Here’s a simple metric for you to remember: 2V1. It’s not brain surgery. But knowing it could some day spare you from the need for brain surgery. 2V1 is an informal measuring rod for assuring that your sports helmet fits properly: When you’re wearing the helmet, there should be two (and only two) finger widths visible over the forehead; a V-shaped safety strap straddling each ear; and a single chin strap tightened to admit only one finger width between strap and chin.

The 2V1 metric is one of many valuable lessons students will learn on Brain Day, a program for 4th and 5th graders offered by ThinkFirst Canada, a brain safety group, sponsored by Aviva Insurance. This month, ThinkFirst will be “brainwashing” youngsters on brain safety before they hit adolescence and start taking major risks.

Children and their parents need to know more than how a helmet fits, however. They also need to be aware that all helmets are not created equal. This issue has come to the attention of Dr. Hedy Fry, member of Parliament for Vancouver-Centre. Fry has reintroduced a bill to the House of Commons requiring that all snow sports helmets (skiing and snowboarding) be approved by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA). If it is passed, non-approved helmets would be banned under the Hazardous Products Act. That means it would be illegal for any company to advertise, sell or import any sports helmet not meeting CSA’s benchmarks.

Helmets for hockey and lacrosse are currently regulated by hazardous products legislation, and players of those sports appear to be better off for it. (CSA’s website quotes an official statement to the effect that since hockey helmets were regulated in 1973, there have been no reported deaths of players wearing CSA-approved helmets, and the frequency of severe focal injuries has been drastically reduced.)

ThinkFirst has the right idea. They’re teaching children to use their heads and protect their brains. It wouldn’t hurt if more of our legislators got the message as well. – Tim Rindlisbacher, BSc (PT), MD, Dip. Sport Med., is director of Sports Health at the Cleveland Clinic in Toronto.

© 2009 The National Post Company. All rights reserved.

Hello from Halifax,

The Brain Injury Association of Nova Scotia, along with one of its partners, are trying to find best practice models for the delivery of day programming to individuals who have acquired brain injury. Can you let me know what kind of programming models exist in your provinces as well as contact information on the best person so we can contact him/her directly to gather more information?

We would greatly appreciate any help and feedback you can give.

Sincerely,
Margo Dauphinee,
Executive Director, Brain Injury Association of Nova Scotia
Room 13-009/010, 13th Floor, Victoria Building, VG Site, QEII
Phone: (902) 473-7301, Fax: (902) 473-7302
Mail: PO Box 8804, Halifax, NS B3K 5M4
Website: www3.ns.sympatico.ca/bians1

A Helping Hand to a New Beginning