Brain Injury Awareness Week

The 10th -16th June is Brain Injury Awareness Week, the theme for this year is “who thought it would happen to me”. The statistics tell us that ninety New Zealanders a day sustain a brain injury of some sort, the majority are of a traumatic nature with others being from illness or disease.

A brain injury can result in significant changes in people’s lives, often those changes will affect work, relationships and daily life. By far the majority of injuries are caused in road crashes where one or more poor decisions have resulted in a catastrophic injury either to self or someone else.

Our message everyday, but in particular during this Awareness Week is to Think First and use your mind to protect your body - wear your seatbelt on every trip, wear a properly fitted cycle helmet on every bike ride, drive to the conditions and do not drink and drive - all very simple messages that we all know well, but every day people ignore these messages and risk a lifetime of serious disability in the process.

The Brain Injury Association Northland will have a display in the Library during the week illustrating the diversity of brain injury and will be holding a street collection on Friday 15th June with assistance from local Lions Clubs