California Brain Damage Lawyers

The Traumatic Brain Injury Act, Gives Me Occasion To Recognize Several Individuals In Orange County, CA

Mr. COX of California. Mr. Speaker, the recent passage by the House of H.R. 248, the Traumatic Brain Injury Act, gives me occasion to recognize several individuals in Orange County, CA, who have dedicated their lives to raising awareness and improving our understanding and treatment of traumatic brain injury.

Prior to the redistricting that took place prior to the 1992 elections, it was my pleasure and honor to be able to directly represent the citizens of Huntington Beach, CA, in the U.S. Congress. It was back then that I first met Mike Lee, a resident of Huntington Beach who suffered severe head injuries in 1991 in a tragic bicycle accident.

Both before and after the accident, Mike has lived life to the fullest. In the 1980's, he cofounded a $10 million roofing business. He's a certified life insurance agent. And from 1961 to 1971, he worked for Rockwell, the prime contractor for the Apollo Space Program. He served as pad leader for three of the Apollo moonshots--the first Earth orbital Apollo flight, Apollo 7, a lunar orbital, Apollo 9, and the first lunar landing, Apollo 11.

While the 1991 accident caused severe brain damage, greatly reducing cognitive ability and affecting short-term memory, Mike has made tremendous strides in his own recovery program to overcome his injury, and his never-give-up spirit for life has been an inspiration to the many people he's come into contact with since his accident. He's also done much to heighten public awareness and understanding throughout Orange County of traumatic brain injury.

One of the organizations that's been of help to Mike, and many others with severe brain injuries, is the nonprofit National Cognitive Recovery Foundation, which is headquartered in Irvine, CA, and on whose honorary board of advisors I am pleased to serve. Thanks to the active leadership of Dr. Dan Levinson, the foundation has garnered national attention for its role in helping to establish programs across the country to provide low-cost and effective cognitive rehabilitation, retraining, and special education for brain-injured adults.

Hundreds of persons have been helped through the foundation's community college rehabilitation courses. Coastline Community College in Costa Mesa, CA, was the first such institution to offer classes to re-educate and assist in the recovery of persons with brain injuries. Today, three community colleges in southern California offer the same innovative program, and the National Cognitive Recovery Foundation plans to expand this program to colleges nationwide. Thanks to support from charitable and private sources, Coastline is able to offer its program at an approximate cost of $50 per semester; other brain injury rehabilitation programs offered in other parts of the country can cost a person up to $15,000 per year.

The Traumatic Brain Injury Act approved by the House last week is aimed at promoting precisely these kinds of creative and worthwhile programs. This legislation will authorize the National Institute of Health to conduct research into the prevention and treatment of traumatic brain injury. It will also authorize grants to groups like the National Cognitive Recovery Foundation for innovative demonstration programs that can help improve access to rehabilitation, health care, and other service for persons suffering from severe brain injuries.

Mr. Speaker, now that the House has approved the Traumatic Brain Injury Act, I urge my colleagues in the U.S. Senate to act swiftly on this legislation. I ask them to keep in mind the daily struggles and challenges faced by Mike Lee and the thousands of other Americans with severe brain injuries. This legislation will do much to further progress in improving our understanding of traumatic brain injuries, in reducing the incidence of head injuries through public awareness and prevention efforts, and in promoting the development of effective, low-cost rehabilitation and treatment programs.

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