Legislature(2019 - 2020)BARNES 124
03/05/2020 08:00 AM House COMMUNITY & REGIONAL AFFAIRS
Note: the audio ![]()
and video ![]()
recordings are distinct records and are obtained from different sources. As such there may be key differences between the two. The audio recordings are captured by our records offices as the official record of the meeting and will have more accurate timestamps. Use the icons to switch between them.
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB174 | |
| HCR14 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | HB 174 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HCR 14 | TELECONFERENCED | |
HCR 14-BRAIN INJURY AWARENESS MONTH
8:20:40 AM
CO-CHAIR DRUMMOND announced that the final order of business
would be HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 14, Proclaiming March
2020 as Brain Injury Awareness Month.
8:21:02 AM
REPRESENTATIVE CHRIS TUCK, Alaska State Legislature, as prime
sponsor, presented HCR 14, which would proclaim March 2020 as
Brain Injury Awareness Month in Alaska. He said the theme for
this year's campaign is "Change Your Mind." He continued:
This resolution seeks to draw attention to the effects
of brain injuries and the ways to prevent them. Right
now millions of people worldwide are living with a
brain injury, and they're categorized as "traumatic"
and "acquired." As noted in the resolution, the Brain
Injury Association of America reports that every 96
seconds someone in the U.S. sustains a brain injury.
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK directed attention to the definition of
traumatic brain injury (TBI), on page 1, lines [7-8], which is
"a disruption in the normal function of the brain that can be
caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head, or penetrating head
injury". He offered the following statistics: 12 percent of
the general population has experienced at least 1 TBI; 1 in 60
people in the U.S. lives with a TBI related injury; 50,000 each
year die of traumatic brain injuries; an estimated 3.5-5.3
million Americans live with long-term disabilities resulting
from traumatic brain injuries; and in 2016 and estimated 27
million cases of TBIs were reported worldwide.
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK said TBIs can be prevented. He talked about
military helmets from World War I to present and said
preventative measures have been around for a long time. He
expressed that he feels pride when he sees people wearing
helmets when they ride bicycles, skateboard, and rollerblade.
He shared that as an avid snow machine rider and motorcyclist
and always wears a helmet. He wrote a report in the eighth
grade about the importance of wearing helmets, and this
experience made a lasting impression.
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK advised that TBI is an underrecognized
health problem; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) notes that everyone is at risk for TBI, especially young
children and older adults. He said TBIs [result in] a variety
of physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and behavioral
issues; outcomes can vary from total recovery to permanent
disability or even death. Immediately following injury, some
signs of TBI include being dazed and confused, persistent neck
pain, sensitivity to light or noise, loss of balance, changes in
sleeping patterns, and not remembering the injury. He said
acquired brain injuries are those caused by strokes, oxygen
deprivation, seizures, tumors, and substance abuse. The Brain
Injury Association of America estimates that over 3.5 million
children and adults sustain acquired brain injury each year. He
related a story about a former Representative who sustained
brain injury and the importance of early awareness and
treatment.
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK stated his belief that proclaiming March as
Brain Injury Awareness month would increase awareness of TBI and
acquired brain injury (ABI) and hopefully prevent future brain
injuries. He said Annette Alfonsi, from Unmasking Brain Injury,
would provide invited testimony, and he noted that Unmasking
Brain Injury is mentioned in the third-to-last "WHEREAS" clause.
As shown in the second-to-last "WHEREAS" clause, he pointed out
that Brain Injury Awareness Month is recognized by the U.S.
Department of Defense.
8:27:00 AM
REPRESENTATIVE THOMPSON questioned why HCR 14 proposed only
March 2020 rather than in perpetuity.
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK explained that making March of every year
Brain Injury Awareness Month would require a bill rather than a
resolution.
8:28:33 AM
CO-CHAIR DRUMMOND announced that the committee would hear
invited testimony on HCR 14.
8:28:44 AM
ANNETTE ALFONSI, Alaska Coordinator, Unmasking Brain Injury,
paraphrased her written testimony, which read as follows
[original punctuation provided]:
Thank you for letting me speak with you today. My name
is Annette Alfonsi. Before 2012, I worked for the 1%,
had a college degree, was in great health, and was
looking at grad school. After I was a passenger in a
rollover car accident with a reckless driver, my
primary provider gave me one day off of work to rest.
I had multiple internal injuries and persistent
concussion symptoms over time, and was told different
things by doctors. Some didn't believe me or assumed
my symptoms were only behavioral and not physical, and
some said my healing would not improve and I would
live my life with my current symptoms and would never
work again, or that I should be a housewife. None of
them supported treatments for healing. I was laid off
one business day before I would have qualified for
medical leave, was denied disability, and was told at
the municipal and state level that I am not in a
category people care to help. I no longer have a
retirement. I am statistically likely to get
reinjured, experience homelessness, have lower
lifetime outcomes, and have greater risk for comorbid
health conditions that most health providers don't
currently know they should be screening for.
Multidisciplinary treatment, working with a brain
injury specialist physician and leaving Alaska for
treatment is what helped me. Leaving was less
expensive and more effective than what I paid for and
experienced here.
When the brain injury doctor I was seeing left Alaska
in 2015, I planned a TBI conference while recovering
from back surgery, so her knowledge could stay in
Alaska. Over 100 people attended. By request, this led
to our annual conferences with different host
organizations. I've been told I cannot attend
educational events because I am a patient, so the
events I plan allow everyone to learn the same thing
and facilitates advocacy with knowledge.
This year, I am planning another TBI conference hosted
by Hope Community Resources on Friday, March 27 and
Saturday, March 28. We have continuing education
credits approved in 8 professional fields, and we're
offering distance education, so you are all invited to
attend for free. I plan this with volunteers that want
standards of excellence in multidisciplinary and
intercultural health care around brain injury in
Alaska. Go to AlaskaBrainInjuryEducation.com for more
info.
In 2017 I became the Alaska Coordinator for Unmasking
Brain Injury, an internationally known brain injury
awareness project, in which people with any kind of
traumatic or acquired brain injury and their loved
ones can make a mask, with an explanation of their
art, to share what it feels like to live with a brain
injury. We work with groups to host mask making
events, and to host mask exhibits. Visit
unmaskingbraininjury.org for more info.
But I am still not employable, because this type of
work with my level of education is only available full
time and I can't work 40 hours a week.
The past two years I've hosted community conversations
with groups that tend to have a higher number of
clients that have experienced brain injury. This
includes organizations in fields like domestic
violence, homelessness, reentry, suicide prevention,
substance misuse, child abuse, and senior citizens.
Directors and project managers know their folks have
brain injuries, their client's brain injuries affect
every part of life, and they are often the first point
of contact for clients. But they don't understand
their client's symptoms through the lens of brain
injury. I am tired of these groups asking you for more
money when they are ignoring an undercurrent that is
the biggest issue for their clients.
There aren't social service programs around brain
injury compared to mental illness, so if someone has a
brain injury and a mental illness, and must choose one
diagnosis, they may disclose the mental illness to
qualify for programs.
So I'd like to suggest two concrete ideas to this
body:
Number One Idea: Make state funding for any group that
is known or suspected to have more than 50% of their
clients experiencing a brain injury be tied to
education, in other words, state funds would not be
disbursed unless the staff get brain injury education,
and the funding should not be used for that education.
Unlike medical professionals that tend to focus on
diagnosis, these groups focus on function and need to
understand the client symptoms they are witnessing. I
know program directors in social service groups that
love this idea.
Number Two Idea: create or support a housing unit
specifically for brain injury, the way other housing
units are for people with specific diagnoses and
health issues. This would allow tailored environmental
modifications, and could be excellent for group
therapies, peer support, and individualized treatment
opportunities. I know directors that love this idea
also.
Damage to the brain can be healed but the amount of
that healing is dependent on a number of concurrent
factors not being maximized in Alaska. We need to get
away from the idea that someone is good enough, or
looks fine, when inside they are suffering. We can do
better, and it starts with awareness. Please pass this
resolution to raise that awareness. Thank you for your
time.
MS. ALFONSI added to her last paragraph of written testimony the
following: "There's a place for everyone in our community, even
with brain injury symptoms."
8:34:08 AM
CO-CHAIR HANNAN shared that she is a survivor of two severe
brain injuries - one at the age of 21, when she was in a roll-
over car accident, and one at the age of 32, when she was
severely assaulted when living abroad in Russia and was
hospitalized in a neurological unit. She said it was probably a
decade before she made a full recovery. Co-Chair Hannan
emphasized that it is the length of recovery that is astonishing
to most people living with a brain injury; it can take many
years, and not all survivors are as lucky as she was. She
thanked Ms. Alfonsi for bringing the awareness and statistics to
the committee. She said Alaska is a place where there are a lot
of accidental injuries resulting in traumatic brain injury.
8:35:12 AM
REPRESENTATIVE THOMPSON questioned why HCR 14 should not be
passed out now [after only one hearing] considering it would
name March 2020 as Brain Injury Awareness Month [and it was
already March 5].
8:35:47 AM
CO-CHAIR DRUMMOND said if there was no interest in amending HCR
14, she would ask for a motion to move it out of committee.
8:35:56 AM
CO-CHAIR HANNAN moved to report HCR 14 out of committee with
individual recommendations and the accompanying zero fiscal
note. There being no objection, HCR 14 was reported out of the
House Community and Regional Affairs Standing Committee.