Mattie Cummins, Executive Director of the Brain Injury Association of Arizona, recounts a brief, but true, story to illustrate the devastating impact that a traumatic brain injury (TBI) can have on someone’s life.

“A gentleman who we know fell from a ladder at work,” she begins. “First he lost his job. Then he lost his family. All because of his brain injury symptoms.”

The saddest part? “He had no idea that the cause of all of this was connected to his fall.”

An estimated 5.3 million people in the United States are living with a TBI-related injury today. Approximately 45,000 people in Arizona are living with long-term TBI disability. According to the Arizona Department of Health Services, this number will continue to increase by 3,000 or more people each year.

Mattie Cummins stresses that outreach and education are the keys to preventing and identifying TBI. Volunteers and staff at the Brain Injury Association of Arizona (BIAAZ) are dedicated to year-round education and outreach efforts throughout the state.

“We meet a lot of people with a TBI at the community health fairs that we attend, and the Arizona Governor’s Council on Spinal and Head Injuries refers a number of people to us as well,” Ms. Cummins explains. In addition, the organization recently began working with high school coaches, teachers, and nurses to provide education about sports-related concussions.

High school staff members are doing a better job on the sidelines when it comes to head injuries, Ms. Cummins observes. Still, more can be done off the field and off the court – especially in the classroom – where changes in a student that are the result of a TBI may not be so easily noticed.

“Brain injuries will happen,” says Ms. Cummins, pointing out that more head injuries occur during basketball games than in football games or soccer matches.

“We’re here to help prevent secondary brain injuries and to educate the community about what brain injuries can mean.”

While outreach and education activities are helpful, there remains what Ms. Cummins refers to as “the scary factor” – the unknown numbers of people with undiagnosed brain injuries.

In 2005 (the most recent data available), nearly 26,000 people in Arizona were treated for TBI in emergency departments. Another 6,000 Arizonans were hospitalized due to TBI.

Yet TBI symptoms may not show up for months or even years after an injury, so the true number of people living with brain injury is impossible to determine.

Cummins reports that children who experience mild TBI may not begin to display problems right away. But as a child matures, the higher demands at later developmental stages may reveal a significant—and previously invisible—disability. Furthermore, symptoms of TBI such as depression, concentration and memory problems, and the inability to multi-task are often linked to stress and other conditions in some people. Without recognition of the underlying TBI that may be causing these symptoms, parents and teachers may not realize the nature of the child’s struggle.

This is why the Brain Injury Association of Arizona and the Council collaborated on the family information card, When Your Child’s Head Has Been Hurt. The card gives families information on common symptoms after mild TBI and directs them to the Brain Injury Association of Arizona for more support. The Association’s staff is trained to assist callers who need help finding the right resource after they or someone they care about has a brain injury.

It’s not just children who may be struggling with invisible disabilities. “Think about the number of people who don’t go to the ER when they hit their head,” Ms. Cummins says.

“When you get a bruise on your arm, you can see it and treat it,” says Ms. Cummins. “But when you get a bruise on your brain, you can’t see it.”

Although many people who sustain a medically “mild” TBI (an injury with little or no loss of consciousness or related symptoms) may not have long term disabilities, others experience ongoing challenges.

“We meet people with mild TBI, and they can’t work at all. That’s why it is important to get services up front and as early as possible.”

On a positive note, she believes that more attention is being paid to those over the age of 75.

“Family members may think that the differences in behavior are a symptom of getting older,” says Ms. Cummins. “They may not consider that changes are related to a recent fall.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a national public health organization, says that family members and other caregivers of older adults can help protect their loved ones’ health and independence by:

• Reducing their risk for falls
• Recognizing signs of TBI after a fall occurs; and
• Taking the appropriate steps when signs of TBI are observed.

More information about brain injury in older adults is available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For more information about TBI, call the Brain Injury Association of Arizona at (602) 323-9165 or toll-free at (888) 500-9165 or visit www.biaaz.org.