Wear Your ‘Green’ For Brain Injury Month!

For Immediate Release
Contact: Derek T. Berry
Ph: 202-877-1773
Derek.T.Berry@medstar.net

WASHINGTON, DC – March 16, 2012 – MedStar National Rehabilitation Network reminds you that March is Brain Injury Month. To show your support for those with brain injuries, wear a green ribbon. Some facts about brain injury, courtesy of the Brain Injury Association of America:

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a blow, jolt or bump to the head or a penetrating brain injury that disrupts the normal function of the brain
1.7 million people, including 475,000 children, sustain a TBI each year in the U.S.
275,000 people will be hospitalized due to a TBI
TBIs are predominantly caused by falls, car accidents, workplace accidents and assaults
TBI is a contributing factor to a third of all injury-related deaths in the U.S.
About 75% of TBIs that occur each year are concussions or other forms of mild TBI
Just like no two people are alike, neither are two brains alike – for some brain injuries are a lifelong disease process, while for others, healing happens more quickly

For more on our comprehensive brain injury program and our concussion clinic, visit medstarnrh.org or call 202-877-1000. Here is a link to the Brain Injury Association of America website: http://www.biausa.org/brain-injury-awareness-month.htm

MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital is a private, not-for-profit facility with 137 beds located in Northwest Washington, D.C. MedStar NRH’s services are designed specifically for the rehabilitation of individuals with disabling injuries and illnesses such as stroke, brain injury, spinal cord injury and disease, arthritis, amputations, post-polio syndrome, chronic pain, back and neck pain, occupational injuries, cancer and cardiac disease that require medical rehabilitation, and other neurological and orthopedic conditions. Annually, MedStar NRH admits approximately 2,200 inpatients and provides nearly 350,000 ambulatory visits at 34 MedStar National Rehabilitation Network outpatient sites located in Washington, D.C., Suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia. We treat patients from the age of 6 and up and our pediatric unit — the National Center for Children’s Rehabilitation — is a joint service of MedStar NRH and Children’s National Medical Center.

MedStar NRH has appeared on the “Best Hospitals” list in U.S. News & World Report for 17 consecutive years and is currently ranked among the top hospitals for medical rehabilitation in America. MedStar NRH is fully accredited by The Joint Commission and the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). We have CARF accredited specialty programs for Brain Injury, Spinal Cord Injury, and Stroke. MedStar NRH is a proud member of MedStar Health., parent company to MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital, MedStar Harbor Hospital, MedStar Montgomery Medical Center, MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital, MedStar Union Memorial Hospital, MedStar Washington Hospital Center and the MedStar Visiting Nurse Association. For more on MedStar NRH, log on to medstarnrh.org.