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Senator Kemp Hannon, Chair of the Senate Health Committee, was joined today by Senator Greg Ball and members of the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation, a group that advocates nationwide for victims of brain injuries, to push for legislative action on the Concussion Management Awareness Act.
“The number of children each year who suffer brain injuries, such as concussions, is alarming,” Senator Hannon said. “We need to act to ensure that coaches, trainers and others are properly prepared to handle mild traumatic brain injuries before they become severe or life-threatening.”
The bill (S.3953), sponsored by Senator Hannon and co-sponsored by Senator George Maziarz and Senator Greg Ball, would direct the State Health and Education Departments to adopt rules and regulations for the treatment and monitoring of students with mild traumatic brain injuries.
“When a student suffers a head injury playing sports, it can affect the rest of his or her life,” said Senator Maziarz. “Our effort helps develop a plan to make sure that young athletes are treated and supervised properly to protect their long-term health and well-being as much as possible.”
“We realize now what we may not have known a few decades back,” said Senator Ball. “Concussions create long-term, detrimental health effects, and those hits taken on the playing fields can have substantial and lasting impacts. It’s time to get serious and protect our young athletes so they can enjoy long and healthy lives.”
The proposed legislation would require that each school district have a concussion management team comprised of health and sports staff. The concussion management team would be responsible for overseeing staff training, educating parents and students about concussions and helping transition students who have sustained a concussion back into school and sports with specified guidelines.
“By instituting these regulations, school personnel will be able to more easily identify concussions and thereby reduce the risk of long-term complications in our young people,” Hannon said. “In the future, this legislation will encourage parents, students and coaches to take preventative steps to avoid such significant injuries.”