Pediatric brain injury plan unveiled
A comprehensive plan to work with children who have suffered traumatic brain injuries was presented in Honolulu today at the Pacific Rim International Conference on Disabilities.
Patrick Donohue, founder of the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation, unveiled the National Pediatric Acquired Brain Injury Plan at the Hawaii Convention Center. The PABI Plan develops a seamless, standardized, evidence-based system of care that is universally accessible for the millions of PABI families across the country.
Donohue is also the father of Sarah Jane, who suffered a traumatic brain injury at five days old.
The Sarah Jane Brain Foundation is coordinating a nationwide public awareness campaign dealing with brain injury, the leading cause of death and disability for America’s youth.
The tour aims to bring awareness about youth sports concussions to high schools across the country as well as introduce the National Pediatric Acquired Brain Injury Plan (PABI Plan) through town hall meetings at local universities and hospitals.
The Sarah Jane Brain Foundation is one of the leading organizations in the country dealing with PABI, and its Advisory Board is comprised of over 200 leading experts from just about every major medical institution (from MD Anderson and Johns Hopkins to Mayo Clinic and Mount Sinai) and research university (from Harvard and Yale to UCLA and UNC) in the country.
PABI can be caused by trauma (motor vehicle crashes, child abuse, sports-related concussions, blast injury from war, falls, etc.) as well as non-trauma (strokes, brain tumors, meningitis, hypoxia, etc.). PABI covers these brain injuries from birth through 25 years of age, due to the fact the adolescent brain is still developing until about 25 years.
According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 1.6-3.8 million new brain injuries occur every year in America due to trauma in sports and recreational activities. More than 767,225 American youth visit the Emergency Department due to traumatic brain injuries each year, 80,715 are hospitalized and over 11,200 die.
These numbers do not reflect the many more that do not enter a hospital, are not diagnosed or are caused by non-trauma.
Upwards of 80 percent of the children in our juvenile detention centers across America have some form of a brain injury, most of which have not been identified or treated.
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I am a grandmother/guardian to a 4yr old brain injuried grandson.We have been raising him since 3months old.I just want to thank you for all your efforts for your daughter and other children and young adults like her.We live in Arizona and they are not so considerate of children and young adults here with TBI or similiar conditions.Again thank you and god bless you.