I am really excited to share a recent development that is very near and dear to my heart. After seeing a patient suffering from the effects of a concussion, I realized that I did not know nearly enough on how to effectively care for their condition. This situation made me very passionate about concussion education and awareness and has led me to do a great deal of research on this topic.
I have found that many health care providers don’t understand enough about managing concussions, and this is creating a big challenge for the people suffering from them. We tend to see people months, and sometimes years after they have suffered from an injury. This makes the situation much trickier to manage, as well as adding in the challenge of trying to help the patient deal with lingering symptoms that are ruining their quality of life.
In a quest to get information on concussion management to health care providers and the general public, I asked a patient of mine who is an MLA how we can disseminate this extremely important information and create more awareness on the appropriate treatment of concussions. As a result of that conversation, almost a year and a half later, a motion has been passed by the Alberta Legislative Assembly that reads:
“Be it resolved that the Legislative Assembly urge the government to recognize a day each year to promote the awareness and prevention of concussions.” 
This may seem like a non-actionable motion, but this is the first step in creating a procedure to create, promote, and steward a Concussion Awareness Day. As it is now in the official minutes, there will be a review and follow-up to ensure that it gets done… and we all know how quickly things get done with the government! All joking aside, I am very excited to be of assistance with this motion moving forward and to provide hope that the future for Albertans suffering from concussions might be a little easier to manage.
Written by Dr. Mylène Hopf
