Pascrell hears his idea pitched by Obama at brain injury summit

From the Political State blog on NorthJersey.com

For more than a decade, Rep. Bill Pascrell has been leading a drive to get more government resources behind dealing with brain injuries. On Thursday, President Obama called for the same thing, and mentioned Pascrell and two other members of Congress at the start of his remarks.

Among the initiatives Obama highlighted at a special White House summit on brain injuries in student athletes is an effort to coordinate research and develop standards that Pascrell sought in a bill that passed the House in 2010 but died in the Senate.

Thats right out of the CONTACT Act, Pascrell, D-Paterson, said in a phone interview after attending the program. The president has bought into it.

Related: Obama says sports concussions need more attention

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will work with medical experts to develop guidelines for diagnosing and managing mild traumatic brain injuries, including concussions, in children and teens. That effort was part of a bill dubbed the Concussion Treatment and Care Tools Act of 2010 that Pascrell authored.

Funding for the program, to be run by a program focused on brain injuries at UCLA, will include a $10 million donation from Steve Tisch, one of the owners of the New York Giants.

Largely because of increased awareness of the symptoms and dangers, diagnosis of concussions in young athletes has risen in recent years.

Pascrell formed the House Brian Injury Caucus to push for better funding for research and treatment in 1998, then was part of a growing group that pressed the military to get do more for soldiers in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who had suffered a spate of brain injuries from improvised explosives.

Pascrell was pleased that the chief of staff of the Army, Gen. Raymond Odierno, was attending the summit along with officials from the National Football League and the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

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Pascrell hears his idea pitched by Obama at brain injury summit