While it is still fresh on the minds of everyone, now it’s time for the Canadian Government to get involved to help out.
One has to ask why it takes injuries to find funding to look at a prevention for any thing that sometimes seems simple to fix.
Think First has sent out a press release regarding the funding from the Conservative Government, so enjoy the read.
ThinkFirst Canada / Pensez d’Abord Canada believes it is a child’s right to engage in active healthy and safe play which is why the charity is a strong advocate for health promotion and head protection in sports and recreation.
ThinkFirst Canada is delighted with the Federal Government dedication of resources for injury prevention for Canadian children and youth. Injury is the leading cause of death for young Canadians.
Traumatic brain and spinal cord incidents are preventable injuries that can lead to death and disability.
“Canadian children and youth should be afforded healthy and safe participation in sports and recreation in order to reach their full potential,” comments Rebecca Nesdale-Tucker, Executive Director of ThinkFirst Canada. “
A severe brain injury can permanently change the way a child can play, learn and interact with others.
This is devastating to the victim and their families and imposes a large toll on society in terms of long term care.
ThinkFirst wants to see children and youth participating fully and safely in all the healthy activities of childhood, recognizing that many popular sports and recreation pastimes like skiing and snowboarding, hockey, football, ice skating, bicycling, soccer and water-sports carry a degree of risk.”
In fact, head injuries are the most severe injuries among children and young people who participate in sport and recreational activities.
Investments in injury prevention, capacity-building, coordination, public awareness and surveillance are among the recommended strategic objectives to identify and reduce preventable injury in sports and recreation across Canada.
As a national charitable organization ThinkFirst Canada and its supporters has been providing information on being healthy active and safe such as free education programs in schools – such as TD ThinkFirst for Kids and Brain Day as well as sports and recreation programming including concussion information.
“ThinkFirst Canada looks forward to working closely with the Government of Canada and our national partners for the safety of Canada’s kids,” says Dr. Charles Tator, Founder of ThinkFirst Canada.
“In our experience with sports injuries over the past 20 years, we have learned that when people put their heads together to tackle a problem, great things can happen. You don’t have to look farther than the reduction that has been achieved in broken necks in hockey.”
During this International Brain Awareness Week, Dr. Tator reminds us to visit thinkfirst.ca for sports and recreation and concussion information: “Prevention is the only cure.”
