ABI Basics

The Provincial Problem…

• Each day 44 people (Ontarion) sustain a brain injury
• 800 people die every year from brain injuries
• 15,000 Ontario residents require hospitalization due to brain injury
• each year, in Ontario, between 1600 & 2500 people ar eleft with physical, intellectual or behavioural consequences severe enough to interfere with their activities of daily living.
• 66% of these individuals are below the age of 30

The SUDBURY Situation…

•  Sudburians record a higher than average number of brain injurues than the provincial average.

Other FACTS…

• Brain injury is significantly more prevalent than breast cancer, spinal cord injury and HIV/AIDS.
• Close to half-a-million people in Ontario live with an acquired brain injury (ABI)
• Traumatic brain injury (a brain injury caused by a blow to the head) is the number one killer and disabler of young Canadians under the age of 40.
• There are almost 18,000 emergency room visits and/or hospitalizations for traumatic brain injury in Ontario every year.
• There were also over 19,000 hospitalizations and/or emergency room visits due to brain injury from non-traumatic causes.
• The annual incidence of TBI is greater than that of Multiple Sclerosis, Spinal Cord Injury, HIV/AIDS and Breast Cancer combined.
• For those individuals who survive a brain injury the real work starts after they leave the hospital, getting back to home, work and play. Survivors are living, working and playing in your community.
• It is estimated that there are some 27,000 children with ABI in Ontario’s schools.
• In Canada, the annual cost of ABI has been estimated at $3 billion, $1 billion in Ontario alone.
• Research shows that 20% of people in forensic psychiatric settings in Ontario appear to have a history of brain injury.
• Preliminary results from a study on homelessness in Toronto have shown that 53% of homeless report a history of traumatic brain injury, 72% of which occur prior to being homeless.
• Research shows that, of 235 provincial prison inmates interviewed, 44% reported a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI).
• Each year, 50,000 Canadians suffer an Acquired Brain Injury (ABI). In Ontario, 44 people sustain a brain injury EVERY DAY.