WASHINGTON - Senators Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah)
celebrated the Senate approval late last night of a bill to reauthorize the Traumatic Brain
Injury Act. This legislation expands the Public Health Services Act and provides
individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) assistance in returning to work, finding a
place to live, accessing needed supports and services, and obtaining appropriate
rehabilitation services. The legislation now goes to the House of Representatives.
Approximately 1.5 million people in the United States suffer traumatic brain injuries
every year, with 40,000 of those occurring in Massachusetts and 8,400 in Utah. This
legislation is crucial to providing the care and opportunities needed by the most deserving
groups, our children and soldiers.
Senator Kennedy said, “Brain injuries have become the signature wound of the war in
Iraq. Up to two-thirds of our wounded soldiers may have suffered such injuries. Here at
home, an unacceptably large number of children from birth to age 14 experience
traumatic brain injuries- approximately 475,000 a year - and some of the most frequent
of these injuries are to children under the age of five. Today, we have taken a step toward
ensuring that these citizens and their families will receive the best care we can provide."
“Victims of falls, auto accidents, assaults, and even many veterans suffer from traumatic
brain injuries," Hatch said. “We need to help these people, so I appreciate the Senate’s
action on this bill and look forward to seeing it finally enacted. If TBI patients don’t
receive proper care, the financial and emotional costs can become overwhelming - to the
individual, the family, and society."
