FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 18, 2015

Contact: Communications Office
(850) 245-4111

TALLAHASSEE—Today is Brain Injury Awareness Day, and the Florida Department of Health is proud to recognize the continued efforts of the Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program. This year the Governor showed his commitment to brain health through the allocation of $8 million in funding for Brain Disorder Research in his “Keep Florida Working” budget.

“This new funding shows the Governor’s continued commitment to improving the health of all Floridians and will propel Florida to the forefront of Brain Disorder Research,” said State Surgeon General and Secretary of Health Dr. John Armstrong. “The department currently provides services to Floridians with traumatic brain injuries, and we look forward to more progress.”

The Florida Department of Health’s Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program is a unique program designed and written into law to fulfill a need not accommodated by other agencies and programs; the program works to provide eligible individuals with traumatic brain injuries the resources to enable them to return to their homes or other community based living.

The department’s Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program is also the only publicly funded state program devoted entirely to the rehabilitation of individuals who have sustained traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries. In addition to providing services to 2,380 individuals in fiscal year 2013-2014 through its programs, the Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program also supports research through funding distributed to the University of Florida’s McKnight Brain Institute.

Governor Rick Scott is committed to supporting brain health for Florida families and communities by providing $8 million in vital funding to brain disorder research. The new funding more than doubles the state’s current investment in research for diseases of the central nervous system and establishes a consistent source of state funding to assist research centers in becoming the top centers in the nation.

Included within the $8 million in funding is $3 million for the Ed and Ethel Moore Alzheimer’s Disease Research Program to fund additional research. The need for breakthroughs in brain disorder research grows more apparent each year as the number of retirees increases in Florida. Florida is now second only to California among all states in terms of residents over age 65 living with Alzheimer’s. This year’s budget puts Florida on the map for fighting back against debilitating neurological diseases.

For more information on the department’s Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program, please feel free to call their office at 1-800-342-0778, or you can obtain more information from their website at: www.floridahealth.gov/diseases-and-conditions/brain-and-spinal-cord-injuries.

The department works to protect, promote and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county and community efforts.

Follow us on Twitter at @HealthyFla and on Facebook. For more information about the Florida Department of Health please visit www.floridahealth.gov.