Speakers Bureau Available to Share Personal Stories and Education

Buffalo, NY, March 10, 2011: Brain injury is a prominent topic in the news these days with the injuries to our soldiers from bomb blasts in the mid-east to the recent shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford. As part of March being Brain Injury Awareness Month, Headway of Western New York, a support and advocacy agency for survivors of brain injury, is offering a Speakers Bureau. A number of survivors with brain injury, their families, and professionals in the field are available for interviews and speaking engagements. Requests may be made for a speaker to personalize the issue of brain injury by speaking of their own experience and health professionals can address a variety of topics, including: significant effects of a concussion, the physical effects from a brain injury (such as balance, vision and movement problems), the unseen effects of an injury (such as changes in personality, attention and memory), and much more.

Brain injury is often referred to as "the unseen epidemic." Did you know?

• Every 21 seconds one person in the U.S. sustains a brain injury. 
• 1.5 million people in the U.S. suffer brain injuries each year. Half of these are children.
• 30 years ago, most people with severe injuries would have died. Now with improved trauma care, the majority survive.
• The cost is over $60 billion annually and more than 7 million people in the U.S. live with a lifelong disability as a result of a brain injury.

Community organizations, service groups, schools or members of the media may request the Speakers Bureau. For more information, call 408.3100.

Headway of WNY, an affiliate of People Inc., is a volunteer support, advocacy and resource organization that was founded in 1985 by caring families and individuals who have survived brain injury and other disabilities. Headway of Western New York is a not-for-profit agency that provides support groups, educational materials, in-service seminars, recreational opportunities, resource and referral services as well as linkage for case management and more.