Hawaii governor David Ige signed senate bill 2557 into law last week, giving funding to the development and implementation of the concussion monitoring and testing program.
The bill, which expanded on act 197, drew testimony in support of it from the College of Education at the University of Hawaii, the Hawaii Athletic Trainers Association, Chris Chun of the HHSAA and Jeaney Garcia of the Positive Coaching Alliance. It was supported with amendments by the Hawaii chapter of the American Physical Therapy Association.
The Department of Health spoke out against the bill because of its $450,000 price tag.
The journey the bill took to become a law can be found here: http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=SB&billnumber=2557
Chris Chun and the HHSAA started concussion awareness back in 2012 and the Hawaii Concussion Awareness Management Program promises to hold at least two concussion awareness clinics a year. The first one will be held on Thursday at McKinley and if free of charge but attendees are encouraged to preregister in order to earn a certificate of attendance. Youth groups can contact the organization to schedule other classes.
Call 956-3807 for more information.
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