Your Amazing Brain

Preventing Head and Spinal Cord Injuries in Children

Unintentional injury is the number one killer of children and youth. Many of these injuries and deaths involve damage to the brain or spinal cord. These body parts cannot repair themselves, so survivors are left with permanent damage.

Children are often oblivious to the risks involved in many everyday activities such as riding a bike or climbing a tree. This project aims at increasing this awareness in children and parents so that smart choices are made . . . always buckling up, for example, when in the car, wearing a helmet when bicycling, taking care to "follow the rules of the road" as a pedestrian, or just saying "no" to risky activities.

"Your Amazing Brain" is aimed at grade 3 students of Grey and Bruce Counties. A package will be given to each elementary school in the fall of 1997. It consists of a locally produced video and a teaching kit. Several exciting, action-based activities are part of the teaching kit, to be used in the classroom as reinforcement of the video.

With a fun and interesting approach, students will gain an understanding of how the brain and spinal cord function, how important these structures are in daily living and how to best protect them from harm.

For more information contact Grey Bruce Health Unit, 101 17th Street East, Owen Sound, Ontario. N4K 0A5 or call 519-376-9420 about "Your Amazing Brain".

Other agencies working on this project include the local Public Health Unit, Boards of Education, Police Department, Brain Injury Association, Farm Safety Association and Ministry of Transportation.