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OREM — Members of the Brain Injury Alliance of Utah will suit up with the Orem Owlz to take a swing at dealing with brain injury by providing information and resources at a game Thursday.
The baseball game is meant to be educational and will give fans more information about traumatic brain injury (TBI) and resources available to treat brain injury survivors.
"We have an individual who suffered a brain injury who's going to throw out the first pitch," said Ron Roskos, the Executive Director of Brain Injury Alliance of Utah. "We have an individual who works in the brain injury field who's going to sing the national anthem."
Roskos suffered a brain injury years ago over 20 years ago. He said he was walking across a parking lot to work when he slipped on a patch of ice and laid unconscious for an unknown amount of time. Roskos said many people don't make it to the emergency room after suffering a brain injury from a small car accident or a seemingly casual fall and therefore, live with a TBI and don't know it.
"They're going to have the symptoms of feeling sick to their stomach, vomiting, headaches, ringing in their ears, funny taste in their mouth," Roskos said. "Those are sure signs of a concussion. The best thing to do is to get to the emergency room and get checked out."
However, Roskos said doctors diagnose millions of people with brain injuries each year.
"If we look at the statistics, there's 1.7 million brain injuries that take place in the United States each year," Roskos said. "There's an estimated 56,000 individuals in the state of Utah that live with the long term disability from brain injuries."
- Feeling sick to your stomach
- Vomiting
- Headaches
- Ringing in their Ears
- Funny taste in their mouth
Roskos said brain injuries are common in car crashes and sports concussions which is why the Owlz and BIAU will promote helmet safety and other ways for families to reduce the chances of having a brain injury. However, unlike some other health problems, Roskos said brain injuries can happen to anyone.
"We can look in our family history and see that maybe some of our relatives have cancer, diabetes, or heart disease," Roskos said. "But when it comes to brain injury, everybody's fair game."
The entire "Brain Injury Awareness Night" with the Orem Owlz revolves around educating Utah families about different types of brain injuries and the treatments available to people.
"It'd be great for more people to become aware of brain injury," Roskos said.
The BIAU will host the event at the Brent Brown Ballpark at Utah Valley University Thursday followed by a silent auction.
