Wednesday, April 6, 2011

New Legislation in Ohio on TBIs

The Ohio legislature introduced on March 7, 2011, a new bill that will change the way TBIs are handled in all youth athletic programs, not just the scholastic programs.  The TBI bill (HB143), as it is currently written, will mandate several steps when dealing with head injuries in youth.  In a letter from the Ohio Athletic Trainers Association President, Hollie Kozak delineates what these changes will be.  She summarizes the mandates this way:


"As currently drafted, the legislation requires both school sponsored sports and “youth sports organizations” to adhere to the following requirements:
1.)     Requires students to submit a form signed by their parent stating that the parent and the student have received concussion and head injury information sheet
2.)     All coaches must hold a pupil activity permit (PAP) for coaching interscholastic athletics, and requires the (PAP) to develop additional training program specifically focused on brain trauma and brain injury management
3.)     A coach shall remove from practice or competition a student suspected of having sustained concussion or head injury during a practice or game
4.)     A student shall not be returned to practice or competition on the same day they were removed
5.)     In order to return the student to play: the student must be assessed by a physician, or athletic trainer and must have written clearance to return to play or practice.
The Ohio Department of Health would be the regulatory body to oversee the program."


The legislation was cosponsored by several interested parties including the Ohio American Academy of Pediatrics (OAAP), the Ohio Brain Injury Association (OBIA), Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and the Ohio Children’s Hospitals Association.  The bill was introduced by Representatives Michael Stinziano and Sean O’Brien and has many legislative cosponsors.  This is the same legislation that the National Football League has also endorsed in many other states, and I assume will do the same here.  


With all of the support, I  suspect that this will be run through fairly quickly and will be in place before the fall season of 2011.  Assuming it will be passed, this will make for a mad scramble for youth leagues to get all the necessary paperwork in order and be ready for the start of their seasons.  In our community, I have already reached out to all three organizations that run the local athletic programs and will be offering educational programming for all the youth coaches.  The best place to access a lot of this information at this time is through the CDC website where they offer a great deal of educational materials at no cost.


The hospital system that I am employed by is also looking to do a few other things for the various leagues and we should be hearing about them shortly.  Hopefully, this will allow us much greater access to all the youth living in the school districts in which we are currently employed.

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