<> 1.4 million Americans sustain a traumatic brain injury each year.
<> More than 50,000 people die each year as a result of traumatic brain injury.
Brain injury remains the leading cause of death in young children and teens.
Traditionally, Pilot Clubs have celebrated Brain Awareness Week in March. In September Pilot International Foundation voted to proclaim March BrainMinders Month. Since its inception, BrainMinders has grown into a major Pilot Club Signature program. March is an opportunity for our clubs to create an awareness of this program through several venues.
To list a few, just to get you inspired�
<> Bicycle or safety fair in your community
<> School presentations of BrainMinders programs
<> Fundraisers to benefit BrainMinders projects in your community
<> Membership drive � to recruit members interested in participating in this program
<> Share Pilot to demonstrate the many areas in which your Pilot Club makes a difference in
your community
<> Demonstrations of your programs, seminars or a health clinic in your community centers
<> Programs at your local nursing homes or Alzheimer�s centers
How it all started�
In the early nineties, Pilot International adopted brain trauma, diseases, and brain disorders as their signature project. In that decade, the Pilot Clubs around the world sponsored walks and raised over $2,000,000 for Alzheimer�s research and also distributed grants to communities for Special
Olympics, scholarships, and a variety of special needs groups.
In 2000, PI President Laura Keever and her officers met with a group of professional medical and legal experts to gather information to develop public education programs on brain injury prevention. The group concluded that a better understanding of these issues could prevent many of the tragedies that occur daily in schools, at home, and in the workplace.
The PIF Signature Program Committee met in October 2000 and created the signature project brand for public service promotion, BrainMinders� ��Protecting Your Brain for Life� with curriculum outlines for four awareness and educational programs:
<> Core Program for Small Communities � an approximately two-hour �Protecting Your Brain for Life�
BrainMinders Month . How will you celebrate during the month of March, 2008? When presenting
this program to other service and civic clubs it is effective to begin with a few statistics and to
present one of your BrainMinders programs and relate how this has impacted the members of
your club.
<> The Pilot Log, Spring 2006, at www.pilotinternational.org contained a program to define the fallacy of the �mild brain injury.�
<> Expanded Program for a Four-Hour Conference � designed for professionals in the
educational, medical and legal occupations.
<> Full-Day Conference for major markets � created for major civic centers to educate a diversity
of groups and professionals (offering Continuing Education Units).
<> Program for School Systems � made to appeal to school assembly programs and material
dissemination.
All the research, development, and initial production of materials were funded with a gift from the estate of Callye Harrell Neece. Phase I BrainMinder Buddies and Phase II Public Service
Announcements were presented to Pilot Clubs at the 2001 Denver convention.
The program, BrainMinder Buddies was designed to appeal to a young child�s imagination and provide strong impressions for life-long safety habits to protect their brains. A kit was created
for clubs who applied for an in-kind grant. The kit included the guidebook for club presenters, a marketing strategy book with Public Service Announcements on scripts, copies of PSAs for television and radio, a fact sheet, a letter of invitation to children�s daycares, kindergartens, and schools, a
clip art sheet, order form and news release.
Over 400 kits and 200,000 books were sent to clubs courtesy of the in-kind grant. In Reno, at the 2003 Convention, Phase III of the BrainMinders Program was introduced for children 7-9 years of age. Several Pilot Clubs also introduced their innovations of the program which included costumes (Pilot Club of Fort Myers Beach, Florida); a puppet theatre (Pilot Club of Beaumont, Texas); an adaptation for seniors safety in nursing facilities (Pilot Club of Milton, Florida).
Today, over 500,000 books have been distributed to 429 Pilot International Clubs. Well over 5,000 presentations have been made to schools, other service clubs, senior centers, Alzheimer�s groups and community seminars. Foundation and club grants have enabled clubs to distribute thousands of helmets to youngsters. Indeed, Pilot International�s signature project has made a difference in the world, and the plans go forward for more prevention programs and public information in the near future. Congratulations Pilots for a job well done!
For More Information:
www.pilotinternational.org
BIA Web site: www.biausa.org
CDC Web site: www.cdc.gov/ncipc/tbi
State Brain Injury Associations
