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The Brain Injury Association of New Jersey will offer two regional seminars this month focusing on the long-term effects of brain injuries on a patient's mental health. The seminars will address the needs of individuals with brain injuries served by health and human service workers throughout New Jersey.

The seminars were created in an effort to increase awareness of brain injuries among health and human service professionals. Since the first series of regional seminars were held in 2003, over 300 health and human service professionals from a wide variety of agencies throughout the state of New Jersey attend the seminars every year.

You can access additional information on the seminars, as well as dates and times for the seminars, online here. 

The Brain Injury Association of New Jersey will hold it's next round of Brain Injury Basics for Families programs over the next several months throughout the state of New Jersey. Brain Injury Basics for Families is a free educational seminar series designed to educate the public on brain injuries, and raise awareness of the more than 9,000 children and adults who are hospitalized each year due to a traumatic brain injury in the state of New Jersey alone. 

Brain Injury Basics discusses the impact of brain injury on families, provides an overview of brain injuries, provides information on the effects of brain injury on families, including the stages of grief family members experience, and offers information about strategies families can utilize when dealing with a brain injury in their own family, and tips for caregivers.

You can access additional information on the Brain Injury Basics series, as well as a list of upcoming seminars, online here. 

On February 5, 2009 the Assembly voted 77-0 to approve legislation Assemblyman Louis D. Greenwald and (now former) Assemblyman Douglas H. Fisher sponsored to require the state include information about Shaken Baby Syndrome to new parents.

According to the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome, 1,200 to 1,400 children nationwide annually receive medical treatment for injuries attributed to being violently shaken by a caregiver.

Nearly 30 percent of those injuries prove fatal, and about 80 percent of survivors incur lifelong brain injuries that can lead to learning and physical disabilities, blindness, hearing and speech disabilities, cerebral palsy and behavior disorders.

The legislation (A725) would require the state to include information on Shaken Baby Syndrome in the resource guide it provides to new parents. The guide also would be published in Spanish. A health care professional would be required to review information in the guide with new parents as part of the discharge procedure. The bill now goes to the Senate for further consideration.

Assembly members Anthony Chiappone, John S. Wisniewski and Pamela R. Lampitt issued a multimedia package on a legislative package aimed to improve teen driver safety in New Jersey, which was approved by the General Assembly on March 5, 2009. The bills would implement the top recommendations of the state's Teen Driver Study Commission.

The multimedia package consists of a video press release on the legislative package, audio of same and quotes from the sponsors. The video can be accessed directly onine here.

Under the bill, teen drivers with a learner's permit would have to log at least 50 hours of practice driving -- including 10 hours of night driving -- certified by a parent, guardian or supervising driver, along with the required six-hour driving course. Drivers ages 17 to 20 who obtain an examination permit would be given the option to either complete the learner's permit certification requirements or complete 100 hours of certified driving, including 20 hours of night driving.

Additionally, any driver under 18 years old would not be able to obtain a permit until their parent or guardian attends a teen driver orientation program approved by the state Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC). Drivers under 21 who have been issued learner's or examination permits would further be required to hold those permits for one year before being eligible for a provisional license.

The measure also would require the MVC to adopt a standardized, up-to-date curriculum to be used in public and private driving schools that would include private, one-on-one instruction for permit holders. The bill passed by a vote of 76-0-2.

The death of 16-year old Montclair, New Jersey high school student Ryne Dougherty has prompted legislators throughout the state to increase the level of awareness and prevention for sports related brain injuries. Earlier this week, it was announced that 21 schools in Northern New Jersey may get funding in upwards of $40,000 from The Brain injury association of New Jersey and the Mountainside Health Foundation in order to implement the ImPACT Concussion Management program, which gives students a computerized brain test before their sports season starts. From these baseline tests, a doctor can compare the results if a student is injured and more accurately gauge the level of severity of the injury.