In making your decision, consider the following eight points.

TORONTO, Oct. 7 /CNW/ – More than half of Toronto’s homeless have suffered a brain injury – and 70 per cent of those did so prior to ending up on the street – according to a landmark study published today.

“Sadly, this study proves our greatest fears,” says John Kumpf of the Ontario Alliance for Action on Brain Injury (OAABI). “In our society, people living with acquired brain injury do not get the community support they need, and they fall through the cracks.”

The study, published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, showed that 53 per cent of Toronto’s homeless report a history of traumatic brain injury. The study was authored by Dr. Stephen Hwang, research scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital, and Dr. Angela Colantonio, senior scientist at
Toronto Rehab.

“Many of those who survive a brain injury in Ontario end up alone. They go unnoticed, undiagnosed, and uncared for,” Kumpf noted.

OAABI estimates that close to half a million Ontarians currently live with an acquired brain injury (ABI) – including some 27,000 children – and 18,000 new cases are added every year. Brain injury is significantly more prevalent than breast cancer, spinal cord injury and HIV/AIDS combined.

In addition to some ending up on the streets, other brain injury survivors find themselves in a downward spiral that leads to a similar dead-end. For example, preliminary findings from another study found that 44 per cent of the prison population in Ontario also has a history of brain injury.

Often survivors are inappropriately placed in long-term care homes and psychiatric hospitals. There, without specialized treatment, any progress they achieved in rehab is usually lost.

Acquired brain injury can result in lifelong impairments, with survivors and their caregivers dealing with the effects of brain injury for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, the lifelong support they require is often unavailable. OAABI is working to develop a framework for a comprehensive and integrated system of services that will support brain injury survivors in the community, and it expects to present this strategic framework to the Ontario government in the near future.

OAABI has also launched a campaign to increase public awareness and understanding of brain injury.

“Right now, brain injury survivors are largely invisible in our society. We have to start seeing them,” said Kumpf. “We have to acknowledge their difficulties and struggles, and then advocate on their behalf so they can get the services that will allow them to live with dignity.”

At the Alliance’s website – www.see-us.ca – visitors can learn more about acquired brain injury, send an email to their MPP, view a video, and subscribe to a newsletter.

Alliance members are: Ontario Brain Injury Association (OBIA), Toronto ABI Network, The Provincial Acquired Brain Injury Advisory Committee (PABIAC), The Ontario Association of Community-Based Boards for Acquired Brain Injury Services (OACBABIS), and Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation (ONF).

For further information: or to arrange interviews, please contact:
Rachel Sa, rachel@prpost.ca, Office (416) 777-0368, Cell (416) 454-7713

Did you know?

Traumatic brain injury is the leading cause of death and disability among youth.

The three leading causes of death from traumatic brain injury relate to firearms, motor vehicles and falls. The leading causes of death differ by age group. Motor vehicles are the leading cause among youth from birth to 19 years of age. Firearms are the leading cause of death among persons aged 20 to 74 years. Falls are the leading cause of death among persons aged 75 and older.

Did You Know?
You don’t have to lose consciousness to suffer a concussion – only 10% of individuals lose consciousness.

You don’t have to be knocked unconscious to sustain a brain injury. Mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI), also known as concussion , can damage your brain at the cellular level. Worse, repetitive head injuries, even minor ones, can have serious repercussions – including permanent brain damage or death.

Did you know?

After one brain injury, you are three times at a greater risk for a second brain injury and eight times greater for subsequent injuries.

After a TBI incident, the potential risk for subsequent multiple injury is extremely high. Statistics show that among people with a TBI incident, the risk of a second injury is two to three times greater than that of the general population; after a second injury, the potential for a third increases to eight times the normal average.

Did you Know?
Males are twice as likely to sustain a brain injury.

Outcome after TBI may differ in men and women because of gender-related behavioral patterns that cause the traumatic accident. There is a great deal of evidence that men, especially young men, engage in risk-taking behavior far more frequently than women. Men are more than twice as likely to be the driver in fatal car crashes and women are more likely to be the passenger in a car crash.

Men and women differ in safety-related activity such as using a seat belt or wearing a helmet. Women may experience worse outcomes after TBI because they are more likely to wear seat belts and helmets and perhaps the use of safety restraints changes the site of impact or increases the severity needed to cause an injury.

Did you know?
Doctors are calling brain injury a silent epidemic!

Traumatic Brain Injury is called the ‘Silent Epidemic” because the un-informed public is being ravaged by its devastating repercussions. According to the National Center for Health Statistics the total number of injuries to the head (of all types) in the United States is estimated to be in excess of 8 million per year. Put another way, every four seconds someone in the United States may suffer a degree of brain damage.

Most of those who are subjected to head injuries will not experience life-changing consequences because their injuries are not “traumatic.” Yet according to the National Brain Injury Association, every 6 minutes one of the 8 million will become permanently disabled from a brain injury that is truly traumatic. Before the age of 65, two out of every three Americans (66%) will have suffered a form of brain injury ranging from mild to severe.

According to State records each year in Colorado 3500 people are disabled from a brain injury and that rate of injury has been consistent for more than 15 years.