Expressing the need for enhanced public awareness of traumatic brain injury and support for the designation of a National Brain Injury Awareness Month.

Bill: 118-hres-1049
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Pascrell, Bill [D-NJ-9]
Introduced: 2024-03-01
Policy area: Health
Latest action: action_date: 2024-03-08
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.

Summaries:
action_date: 2024-03-01
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p>This resolution supports the designation of an appropriate month as National Brain Injury Awareness Month.</p>

tv_txt: IV 118th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 1049 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES March 1, 2024 Mr. Pascrell (for himself and Mr. Bacon ) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce RESOLUTION Expressing the need for enhanced public awareness of traumatic brain injury and support for the designation of a National Brain Injury Awareness Month.

Whereas traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs when brain function is altered by an external force, such as when something strikes the head or when the head hits something as the result of a fall, motor vehicle accident, assault, or other event; Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that 2,500,000 people sustain a nonfatal TBI each year; Whereas the CDC estimated that 5,300,000 Americans are living with long-term disabilities as a result of brain injury and millions more are suffering from the residual effects of less severe TBIs; Whereas CDC data suggests that TBIs accounted for approximately 214,110 hospitalizations annually in 2021; Whereas the CDC found that there were 69,473 TBI-related deaths in 2021, meaning about 190 Americans died from TBI-related injury each day; Whereas traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been called a signature injury of Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts; Whereas the Department of Defense reported that between the years 2000 and 2017, 375,000 military members were diagnosed with a TBI; Whereas the Institute of Medicine concluded that military servicemembers are at increased risk of long-term health issues from TBIs including depression, Alzheimer’s-like symptoms, post-traumatic stress disorder, seizures, and problems with social functioning; Whereas the effects of a TBI diagnosis of our men and women in uniform is difficult because these injuries are oftentimes invisible and hard to trace; Whereas traumatic brain injury is a leading cause of death and disability among children and young adults in the United States; Whereas 15 percent of high school youth report sports or recreation-related concussions annually; Whereas most cases of traumatic brain injury are preventable; Whereas the lack of public awareness is so vast that traumatic brain injury has been known in the disability community as the Nation’s silent epidemic ; Whereas the designation of a National Brain Injury Awareness Month will enhance public awareness of traumatic brain injury; and Whereas advocacy organizations, including the Brain Injury Association of America, the National Association of State Head Injury Administrators and the United States Brain Injury Alliance, have all recognized March as Brain Injury Awareness Month: Now, therefore, be it

That the House of Representatives— (1) recognizes the life-altering impact traumatic brain injury may have both on Americans living with the resultant disabilities and on their families; (2) recognizes the need for enhanced public awareness of traumatic brain injury; (3) supports the designation of an appropriate month as National Brain Injury Awareness Month; and (4) encourages the President to issue a proclamation designating such a month.