need some help.

as some of you may know, i'm the primary caregiver for my father who suffered a traumatic brain injury (tbi) as a result of a catastrophic accident back in 2004. though he's now living independently, almost two years after the accident, evidence of his injury is easy to see. significant memory loss, personality changes and inappropriate outbursts, difficulty mastering concepts, including financial, emotional and logical and activities of daily living are something we struggle with together every single day. just this morning, i was in frustrated tears trying to explain to dad an extremely "black and white" situation concerning his well-being.

according to the brain injury association, every 23 seconds, one person in the us sustains a tbi. my dad is one of over 1.5 million americans that have suffered a non-fatal tbi this year. there are more tbis each year than incidents of breast cancer, spinal cord injuries, hiv/aids and ms combined. at 175,000 incidents a year breast cancer was the closest in number against tbi.¹ and tbis account for an estimated 34% of all injury deaths in the u.s. the lifetime costs for one person surviving a severe tbi can reach $4 million.² yet, perhaps like many of you, we never heard of tbi before.

i'm working hard to raise awareness of this issue and need your help. i just received a call for action from the brain injury association of america, the advocacy group for the brain injured. will you take a few minutes and help us get the brain injury act funded? thanks so much.

the letter i received:

the brain injury association of america needs your help to reauthorize and fully fund the traumatic brain injury act. please act on both items before june 7, 2006.

support the tbi act of 2006
congressional brain injury task force chairmen, rep. bill pascrell (d-nj) and rep. todd platts (r-pa) plan to introduce the tbi act of 2006 in the house of representatives during the week of june 5. the legislation will reauthorize the tbi act programs for five more years and will make some important improvements to address emerging issues in brain injury. your help is needed in recruiting original co-sponsors for the tbi act in the u.s. house of representatives. (an original co-sponsor is a member of congress who adds his or her name to support a piece of legislation before it is introduced.)

what to do:

• identify your representative by using the association's legislative action center.contact your representative and ask that he or she agree to become an original co-sponsor of the tbi act. if willing, your representative (or his/her staff member) may contact charla penn mcmanus in rep. pascrell’s office at (202) 225-5715 or becky braunstein in rep. platts office at (202) 225-5836.

• your representative should have already received a copy of the co-sponsor invitation from congressmen pascrell and platts as well as a copy of the proposed legislation. if they haven’t received these materials, please offer to forward the information to them. (the documents are available in pdf form from the brain injury association of america’s website.)

fully fund the tbi act for 2007
on june 7, 2006, the u.s. house of representative labor, health & human services, education and related agencies (lhhs) appropriations subcommittee will begin work on its appropriations bill. introduction of the tbi act of 2006 has been schedule to coincide with the appropriations work.

what to do:
between now and june 7, please contact as many members* of the house lhhs appropriations subcommittee as possible and request that they support the recommendations of the congressional brain injury task force by funding the tbi act at the following levels:

• cdc national center for injury prevention and control request - $9 million
• hrsa state grant program request - $15 million
• hrsa protection & advocacy grant program request - $6 million

you can find the members of the house lhhs appropriations subcommittee at the following link.

[download my list with fax numbers and sample letter instead. unfortunately, most reps don't accept email from non-constituents.]

if the appropriations subcommittee members have not seen the congressional brain injury task force appropriations letter, please offer to send them you can download a copy of the letter from biaa’s website.

as many of you know, again this year, president bush recommended elimination of the funding for the tbi state grant and p&a grant programs. it is imperative that congress hear from the people who are most impacted by these important programs. please let your voice be heard. do it today!

on behalf of the brain injury association of america and its nationwide network of state affiliates and the millions of individuals, families and professionals we serve, i thank you for your important work in creating a better future.

sincerely,

susan h. connors
president/ceo
brain injury association of america

*guess you don't have to bother writing to rep. kennedy.

¹ "what is tbi?" brain injury association of new mexico. june 2003. [http://www.braininjurynm.org/whatistbi.html].
² brain injury association of america.  [http://www.biausa.org].

image credit: max brown.