The House approved Rep. Bill Pascrell's resolution today creating National Brain Injury Awareness Month. The resolution also urged President Obama to raise public awareness about what Pascrell called a "deadly but silent epidemic" that afflicts many veterans of the war in Iraq.
Pascrell, D-Paterson, is a co-founder of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, which this week is holding an "awareness day" in the Capitol where congressional staff members, the public and the media can get information.
The theme for Wednesday's event is “Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries: From the Football Field to the Battlefield,” and features a panel discussion led by Col. Michael Jaffe, a doctor who is director of the national Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center.
Also on the panel is Dr. Andrew Tucker, president of the NFL Team Physicians Society; former WWE wrestler Chris Nowinski; and Sarah Wade, the wife of Ted Wade, a member of the Wounded Warrior Project.