Sarnia-Lambton brain injury group holding awareness events

Every year, Brain Injury Association Sarnia-Lambton members and their families gather at the Blue Water Bridge to remember.

“That’s traditionally an event that is held to recognize the members that we have and the strength they carry, but also the members who have passed and gone before us,” said Lori Girolametto, executive director of the non-profit with about 110 members.

That gathering planned for June 28 at 7 pm, a charity golf tournament June 15 at Widder Station — last year’s raised about $40,000 for local programs, Girolametto said — as well as ongoing Tuesday get-togethers for members and their caregivers at the association’s 1705 London Line office, are all part of awareness efforts this month to help others realize what people with brain injuries endure, she said.

“It’s an invisible disease,” she said.

“And yet their resilience is always astonishing to me.”

Discussions about resilience, as well as strategies for cooking with a brain injury, are part of 1 pm Tuesday coffee get-togethers this month at the office, she said.

“I really want to focus on the resilience that our survivors carry each and every day,” she said.

People with a brain injury interested in joining are invited, or they can call the organization at 519-337-5657 for information, Girolametto said.

Golf tournament registration details can be found at sarniabiasl.cashe said.

Provincially, the focus for this year’s campaign for brain injury awareness month is brain injuries do not discriminate, and can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere, Ontario Brain Injury Association officials said in a news release.

Every day, 452 people in Canada suffer a serious brain injury, which adds up to about 165,000 a year, officials said.

“There are close to half a million Ontarians living with acquired brain injury and more than 45,000 new cases will be added this year alone,” said CEO Ruth Wilcock in the release.

That’s not including the 155,000 concussions that occur each year in Ontario, Wilcock said.

Almost half of all brain injuries are caused by a fall or slip, others are caused by oxygen deprivation, intimate partner violence and motor vehicle collisions, the release says.

“Awareness is so key, and just being respectful, kind,” Girolametto said.

“You just never know who you are talking to.”