Project BrainSafe celebrates 5th anniversary

Project BrainSafe Program Coordinator
CentraCare Neurosciences

We’re celebrating Project BrainSafe’s five-year anniversary! We want to share some of Project BrainSafe’s highlights and how we contribute to making our community concussion safe.

It’s about keeping the brain safe

Concussions have been an area of concern for sports and play for quite some time. However, concussions affect millions of people, not just those participating in sports. Injuries can be from mild to severe and everything in between, with the effects ranging from dizziness, vision changes and foggy thinking, to more long-term complications. The Centers for Disease Control estimate that up to 3.8 million concussions can occur each year in the United States.

Project BrainSafe started as a dream to diagnose concussions earlier and provide more standardized and effective treatment. Fast-forward to today and we’ve become a community-wide collaborative that includes local medical providers, academic institutions, athletics, community partners and patient advocates who are committed to our cause.

What’s our goal?

Project BrainSafe’s goal is to improve the recognition, diagnosis and management of concussions through raising community awareness, shifting cultural norms, providing education to the community on concussion signs, symptoms and treatment, and promoting best practices for concussion management.

What have we accomplished?

Here are a just few of the highlights and accomplishments from the past five years:

• Increased public awareness by reaching thousands of people via Facebook Live events, Kare 11 Sunrise interview, newspaper articles and numerous in-person presentations at medical conferences, schools and service clubs
• Partnered with Minnesota’s Hospitals Strengthening Healthy Communities Campaign and featured on the 2015 Minnesota Hospital Association Newsline
• Received 2016 Health Partners Innovation Partners in Excellence Award
• Recognized at the Institute for Health Care Improvement 2016 National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care
• Presented at the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI) on community collaboratives.
• Completed a research study on community perceptions of concussions which was presented at the 7th Annual Traumatic Brain Injury Conference in Washington, DC. In addition, these findings were accepted for publication in Minnesota Medicine Journal.
• Collaborated with concussion providers to establish and disseminate care algorithms for concussion diagnosis and management. Aided in the development of concussion took kits, clinical documentation tools and training to assist providers in their practice.
• Collaborated with partners in the Emergency Trauma Center to help reduce the the use of CT scanning of pediatric patients
• Helped establish pathways for clearer communication and coordination for students returning to school and sport
• Provided ImPACT Baseline testing for area schools which aid providers in concussion assessment and management.
• Participated in several community events, including:
  • Scrubs Camp
  • Kids Expo
  • Hockey Day Minnesota
  • Earth Day
  • Sneakers and Wheels
  • Multiple Bike Rodeos

Despite all our accomplishments, there is still much more to be done. We are excited to continue the work with our partners to make Central Minnesota a “Concussion-Safe Community.”

Learn More About Concussion Symptoms

View more resources on the concussions and brain injuries online. Visit brainsafemn.com or facebook or call 320-229-5020 for additional information