THE HAWAIIAN OYSTER ODYSSEY- a “FUN”draiser in support of Brain Injury Association of Canada was held at the Miller Tavern on Tues January 26, 2010.
Other 2010 Hawaiian Oyster Odysseys will be held in Vancouver, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal, Fredericton, Charlottetown, Halifax and St. John’s. Initial discussions have taken place with representatives from the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia to hold similar events in the near future.
Zoomer Magazine, Fashion and Trends, Shucks!

ThinkFirst Canada: a charitable organization dedicated to preventing brain and spinal cord injuries – Official Newsletter: Winter 2010 (pdf 828kb)

Howard Brown holds the microphone for Gary Otsu, a brain injury survivor and speaker at the Brain Injury Association of Canada’s Hawaiian Oyster Odyssey in Toronto January 26, 2010.
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TORONTO – Gary Otsu, a brain injury survivor, will be a speaker at the Brain Injury Association of Canada’s Hawaiian Oyster Odyssey this year.

Spend an hour with Gary Otsu and it is hard not to feel inspired. Not only has he been living with his brain injury for 20 years, he also cracks a joke every third sentence, is living medication-free, and won’t let you buy your own coffee.

Otsu was 19 years old when he first started feeling the pain in his head. After a couple months the headaches had become unbearable and Otsu went to see a doctor. After this moment, Otsu’s life would drastically change. In one day, Otsu went from his family physician, to a neurologist, then to the neurosurgery wing of his local hospital, where he was immediately admitted as a patient.

At age 19, Otsu discovered he was living with eight tumours in his brain and two in his spinal cord. Otsu is different from other brain injury survivors, because his brain injury was not caused by a harmful event – his injury occurred naturally and without explanation.

“Yeah, I’ve been called the walking miracle,” said Otsu, “I guess people are amazed that I’m still alive.”

Over the course of four months, Otsu celebrated his 20th birthday, underwent three major surgeries and had five weeks of radiation therapy. In April, following the December day that Otsu was first admitted, his neurosurgeon told him that four tumours had grown back. Otsu’s fourth and final surgery to remove the new tumours took place that May.

Otsu’s last surgery was 15 years ago and he has not needed to see a doctor for his brain injury since.

“The doctor told me then that there was nothing else they could do,” said Otsu. “I was free to go, unless I start having bad headaches again, then I could go back.”
Today Otsu says that he “loves volunteering” and divides his time between Community Head Resources Service (CHIRS) and Sunnybrook Hospital. As well, Otsu spends two nights a week attending Brain Injury Society of Toronto (BIST) meetings and spends every Friday night cooking for up to nine people on his floor.
“A perfect day is just feelin good,” says Otsu.

Gary Otsu and other survivors will share their inspirational stories at each of the Odysseys starting in Toronto on January 26.

(TORONTO – JANUARY 26, 2010) – The Brain Injury Association of Canada (BIAC) is cranking up the heat tonight at Toronto’s 6th Annual Hawaiian Oyster Odyssey.
The beach-themed event will be held at the site of the first-ever Hawaiian Oyster Odyssey (HOO), The Miller Tavern, 3885 Yonge Street (1 block south of York Mills) on Tuesday, January 26th from 6 to 9 p.m.

Special guests include:
- Beverly Thomson, co-host of CTV’s Canada AM, as this year’s Master of Ceremonies
- Hon. Deb Matthews MPP, Ontario’s Minister of Health and Long-Term Care
- Hon. Kathleen Wynne MPP, Ontario’s Minister of Transportation
- Dr. Charles Tator, renowned Toronto neurosurgeon
- Piroska Bata RN, neurotrauma nurse manager
- Gary Otsu, brain injury survivor
- Shirley Johnson, President, Brain Injury Association of Canada
- Ralph Palumbo, Ontario Vice-President, Insurance Bureau of Canada, the presenting sponsor

They will all speak from 7:05 to 7:30 pm.

This year’s HOO events will raise over $150,000. A total of almost $600,000 has been raised since the first HOO in 2005. Always a great success, HOO events are now being kicked off by passionate volunteers in every province across Canada.

Brain injury is the number one disabler and cause of death for Canadians under 45, despite being a preventable condition. Each year, 50,000 Canadians are affected with a brain injury and incidence rates are continuing to rise. The HOOs are fundraising events that increase brain injury awareness, and promote its prevention.

National sponsors include Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), TD Bank Financial Group and We Care Home Health Services. Supporting sponsors include the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation, Bombardier, CIBC, Prism Medical, Scotiabank, Brave Consulting, the Posluns Family Foundation, Air Canada, Alpha Laboratories and Goodmans Law Firm.

Hawaiian Oyster Odysseys raise funds to advocate for survivors such as Gary Otsu.
Otsu and other survivors will share their inspirational stories at each of the Odysseys starting in Toronto on January 26th.

Other 2010 Hawaiian Oyster Odysseys will be held in Vancouver, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal, Fredericton, Charlottetown, Halifax and St. John’s.
Each event will feature tropical decor, oyster bars, tropical cocktails, a silent auction and stories from survivors.

About:
In 2003 the Brain Injury Association of Canada was established with the mandate to improve the quality of life for all Canadians affected by acquired brain injury and promote its prevention. BIAC is also dedicated to facilitate post-trauma research, education and advocacy in partnership with national, provincial/territorial and regional associations and other stakeholders.

The mission of the Brain Injury Society of Toronto is to enhance the quality of life for persons, in the City of Toronto, who are living with the effects of acquired brain injury, through education, awareness, support and advocacy.

For more information, please contact:
Howard Brown
Brown and Cohen Communications and Public Affairs
(416) 844-1180
howard@brown-cohen.com
or
Kate More
PR Writer Extraordinaire
(416) 825-7739
kate@rotman-pr.com

Quebec City, January 20, 2010 – Even after regaining normal walking speed, traumatic brain injury (TBI) victims have not necessarily recovered all their locomotor functions, according to a study supervised by Universite Laval’s Bradford McFadyen and recently published in Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

Professor McFadyen’s team compared mobility in 11 people who had suffered a moderate or severe TBI to 7 subjects of comparable age and physical condition with no neurological problems. The subjects in the “TBI” group appeared to have recovered their locomotor functions and some of them had returned to their regular activities at the time of the study.

In a laboratory specially equipped for the purpose, the two groups of subjects had to walk a course on which researchers had placed various obstacles and created visual or auditory distractions. “We wanted to reproduce real-life conditions in the laboratory where people have to move around and their brains are forced to handle a number of tasks simultaneously,” said Bradford McFadyen.

These tests show that in simple situations with no obstacles or sensory distractions, the subjects in the two groups displayed similar walking abilities. However, in the “TBI” group, speed decreased and response times rose in tests involving obstacles or sensory interference. Moreover, the clearance of the subject’s foot over the obstacle was shorter for the “TBI” group.

“Our results suggest that even if victims of moderate or severe TBI appear to have generally recovered their locomotor abilities, deficits can persist,” concluded Professor McFadyen. “This could have consequences if the affected people work in a complex physical environment, a factory, for example, or engage in activities that are demanding in terms of locomotor skills, such as a sport,” added Dr. McFadyen.

Bradford McFadyen and his colleagues are now beginning to work on developing a simple clinical locomotor test that would allow healthcare workers to better assess TBI victims’ readiness to return to their regular activities.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1.4 million people suffer TBI’s each year in the United States. The main causes of these injuries are falls (29%), road accidents (20%), and blows to the head resulting from sports and recreational activities (19%).

In addition to Bradford McFadyen, this study was co-authored by: Philippe Fait, Universite Laval; Jean-Francois Cantin, Guylaine Duchesneau, and Denyse Dumas, Institut de readaptation en deficience physique de Quebec; Bonnie Swaine and Julien Doyon, Universite de Montreal.

Bradford McFadyen
Department of Rehabilitation
Universite Laval
418 529-9141 ext. 6584
brad.mcfadyen@rea.ulaval.ca

April 28 – 30, 2010, Naramata Centre, Naramata, British Columbia, Canada

Please see our website for details about workshops, location, registration, and sponsorship. OCBI 2010 Website

Brochure (pdf)

Brain Injury: It’s In Your Community
CVHIS Call for Abstracts for the 17th Annual G & B Johnson Brain Injury Conference on June 17th and 18th 2010 at the Best Western in Courtenay, BC.

The conference will focus on providing support for survivors, caregivers and family members as they deal with common struggles faced post injury including depression, addiction, and homelessness. With this theme it is our hope to address children and youth as it is a very prevalent need within our community.

Please submit your abstract via e-mail or fax. If you have any questions please contact Andréa Grigg at 1-250-334-9225.

Comox Valley Head Injury Society
#99 1742 Cliffe Avenue
Courtenay, BC V9N 3G6
Phone: 250-334-9225 Fax: 250-334-9269
E-mail: conference@cvheadinjury.com

Abstract
Primary objective: Various guidelines have been developed to implement coherent and uniform management of persons with a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), but those have typically been developed for adults or children and may not address or meet the specific needs of adolescents. The purpose of this study was to explore the specific service needs of adolescents (12–18 years) after a mTBI.

Study design: Qualitative phenomenological study.

Methods and procedures: Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 adolescents and their parents who had received different levels of care from paediatric trauma centres within the previous 12 months.

Main outcomes and results: All adolescents and parents expressed the need to receive information about the injury, its expected recovery and when to return to activities. Many adolescents reported wanting to be seen rapidly, by professionals who genuinely care about them and who acknowledge that they have specific needs that differ from those of younger children. Parents and, to a lesser degree, adolescents think that enhanced communication between the healthcare and school systems would be beneficial following a mTBI to assist in returning to demanding academic activities.

Conclusions: Professionals involved in the management of adolescents with mTBI should be aware of their needs in order to provide optimal and developmentally appropriate services. Keywords: Adolescent, traumatic brain injury, health service needs, needs assessment

Read the full Study: Perspectives of adolescents and their parents regarding service needs following a mild traumatic brain injury (pdf)

Publisher: Informa Healthcare

Dear Colleagues,

I would like to inform you that the Brain Injury Association of Canada has been accepted and is now a member of the Neurological Health Charities Canada – NHCC to find out more about the association visit their website at www.neurohealthcharities.ca.

Below you will find the announcement confirming our membership from the NHCC.

On behalf of the members of the Neurological Health Charities Canada (NHCC), I’d like to extend a warm welcome to two new member organizations – the Brain Injury Association of Canada and The Ontario Rett Syndrome Association.

The BIAC is based in Ottawa and headed up by Executive Director, Harry Zarins. Harry participated in the 3-day research meeting to plan the National Population Study so he’s had an initial glimpse at the work of the NHCC. For more information, please visit www.biac-aclc.ca.

The Ontario Rett Syndrome Association is led by volunteer President, Terry Boyd. Terry and one of her volunteer colleagues participated in the Ontario long-range scenario planning exercise this past fall. The Ontario group is in communication with stakeholders across Canada through a regular newsletter. For more information, please visit www.rett.ca.

We will be sending out an updated member contact listing shortly. In the meantime, both Terry and Harry’s email addresses are included on the distribution list for this email.

Warm regards,

Shannon MacDonald
Neurological Health Charities Canada
(416) 227-3396 office (416) 725-1237 cell
www.neurohealthcharities.ca