To observe Brain Injury Awareness Month (March) and honor those who live with traumatic brain injuries, Regional One Health has donated a variety of books and other educational items about traumatic brain injuries to The Memphis Public Library & Information Center.

“From major car crashes to concussions from sports, brain injury awareness is a topic that is discussed more and more. When it affects families, it can be overwhelming,” noted Melissa Skipper, adult collection development librarian at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library. “The Library is one of the places where people can come for helpful information. Here they will see that they’re not alone.”

With approximately 30 carefully-selected titles and more than 100 quick reference guides, this material will help patients of all ages and their families to navigate through traumatic experiences. Readers will better understand signs to recognize, questions to ask, actions to take, and how to complete them.

Children’s books such as Elvin the Elephant Who Forgets, Daddy’s Home, and My Parent has a Brain Injury: A Guide for Young People offer kids an age-appropriate insight into brain injuries that they or their parents may be facing. Other titles like Healing Together, Brain Injury: It Is a Journey, and Living with Blast Injuries, PTSD, and TBI are ideal for adult readers. Specialty books like Parents and Educators as Partners: A Workbook on Helping Your Child After Brain Injury and Head Games: Football’s Concussion Crisis are geared toward parents, teachers, and coaches.

“I know there are many in our community who need and will benefit from these resources. There is something in this collection for individuals of all ages,” related Carolyn Chambers, traumatic brain injury service coordinator at Regional One Health. Chambers further commented: “A brain injury can happen at any time, anywhere, to anyone. Brain injuries do not discriminate, and more than 1.7 million people sustain brain injuries each year bringing a lifetime of physical, cognitive, and behavioral changes. It is important for brain injury survivors, veterans, families, clinicians, caregivers, and advocates to access information based on the best clinical practices and most current research in the field of brain injury that is both practical and user-friendly.”

The collection was funded by proceeds from the 2013 Ride for Your Mind Bike Ride, an event to heighten awareness of traumatic brain injury in the local community and to promote wearing helmets to prevent brain injuries.

For more information about Traumatic Brain Injury Service, call (901) 545-8487.

For details about Memphis Public Library’s donated collection of books on traumatic brain injuries, visit the Business & Sciences’ Department (third floor) of the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library (3030 Poplar Avenue) or call (901) 415-2734.