Fall River becomes first Mass. community to declare Concussion Awareness Month
Katie Costa found out first hand how devastating the impacts of a concussion can be.
Spending her junior year on the B.M.C. Durfee High School’s girls soccer team in goal, Costa’s season ended early with a kick to the head and a concussion. It took a week of playing and practicing before she was ordered to take six months off.
“Now I feel more educated about (concussions),” Costa said with a group of her teammates around her. “I think they also know more about it now too.”
Better education was part of the goal Tuesday, when Mayor Will Flanagan announced that September would be Concussion Awareness Month in Fall River. Speakers at the event, which ranged from professionals in the concussion awareness field to athletes who suffered from the injury, said Flanagan’s action makes Fall River the first municipality to provide such awareness to the issue.
It’s a topic that has gained greater notoriety in recent years, especially as athletes at the professional level have been diagnosed with concussions and retired players who went with undiagnosed concussions during their careers have spoken out about the issue.
The message, whether is comes from professional athletes or local officials, is being heard.
Fall athletes from Durfee and Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School watched from the sidelines as Flanagan issued his proclamation, and some said they’re happy to know their health on and off the field is a concern.
“(Concussion awareness) is a pretty big deal, especially with this being our senior year and serving as captains, it’s not something we want to go through,” Thomas Soares said. “You don’t want to see a teammate go through it, either.”
The proclamation comes after state leaders approved a bill that led to the Department of Public Health developing concussion-related regulations as it relates to high school sports in June 2010.
Those regulations include improved testing of student-athletes, guidelines for reporting such injuries, and other requirements.
The new regulations are something strongly supported by Neal Rooney, a former football player at Brown University whose career was cut short by an undiagnosed concussion.
Rooney spoke about having two concussions during his playing career, including one that he regularly dismissed as other ailments.
Months later, after consulting with doctors and being diagnosed with a concussion, Rooney said he spent the next four months in practical confinement, not watching television, using a computer, reading a book or spending time in crowded locations.
“Basically, I had to put my brain in a cast for four months,” Rooney said. “It was awful, but I had to do it.”
He warned athletes to pull themselves out of a game or practice immediately if they have a concussion.
He also joined with former Diman student Michelle Pelton to call for even stronger regulations.
Pelton, who missed her senior year because of the effects of multiple concussions, said regulations, including training for coaches and parents, should be put into place for youth leagues.
“The gap still exists,” Pelton said.
Email Will Richmond at wrichmond@heraldnews.com.