IT’S A STARTING POINT
New law will aid in concussion fight
Dr. Charles Tator sees reason to celebrate Tuesday’s passing of Rowan’s Law in the Ontario legislature as a step toward protecting children from the ravages of concussion.
But Tator, a neurosurgeon at Toronto Western Hospital, cautions against getting overly excited. After all, Rowan’s Law as read at Queen’s Park simply mandates the creation of a committee to determine how best to act on the 49 recommendations from the Rowan Stringer coroner’s inquest.
“It will still be a matter of the legislature process deciding what to do,” Tator says. “This is not the actual thing. A lot of people think that it is, but it is an important step to try to achieve legislation — which I think should be done.”
Rowan’s Law only applies to Ontario and Tator is calling for legislation across the country to give all Canadian kids similar protection through mandatory concussion protocols — similar to those that protect superstars in the NHL and CFL.
“We have known for a long time about effective ways of preventing concussions and preventing them from getting worse,” he says. “So the knowledge is there, but the knowledge has not been translated into action. And in spite of lots of good intentions, there are still serious gaps in what people know about concussions and what is being done”
Stringer, 17, died on Mother’s Day in 2013 after suffering two concussions within a week playing high school rugby in Ottawa. She was removed from life support at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, the same hospital where she volunteered with sick kids and hoped to work as a nurse.
All 50 U.S. states have laws dictating the management of youth concussions. In Canada, Ontario is the first province to adopt such legislation.
A four-part Postmedia series that ran last November detailed the haphazard approach to concussion management in Canada. Concussion protocols vary wildly from province to province and city to city — even in the same sport.
Doctors say that when it comes to safety, a formal concussion strategy is every bit as important as a helmet.
Studies show concussions are three to six times more likely to be detected in an environment with a protocol in place.
And the concussions that cause the most damage tend to follow ones that go undetected when the brain is not given the proper time to heal and rest.
“Nothing can stop me!” Rowan wrote in a text message to her best friend the night before the game that would end her life. “Unless, I’m dead.”
Her dad, Gordon Stringer, firmly believes his daughter’s death was preventable.
“We need to have everything we can in place to prevent this from happening to another child,” he says.
“We don’t want anyone else to have to go through it.”
In 2014, the Canadian Concussion Collaborative released a poll of 44 national and provincial organizations that represent concussion-prone sports. Of those surveyed, just 41 per cent had concussion management protocols in place.
Postmedia checked in with sports organizations around the country over the last two weeks and found many are still without a formal policy:
Curling Canada is expected to approve a formal concussion protocol at the organization’s annual meeting next month in Cornwall. It is expected to be in place at championship events for the upcoming season.
The Canadian Lacrosse Association is reviewing a policy that the Federation of International Lacrosse is in the process of finalizing. The goal is to have a common concussion protocol in place throughout the Canadian lacrosse community for the 2017 season.
Gymnastics Canada has no formal policy, but a spokesperson says one is in development. The national team handbook for the upcoming season will include messaging on concussions and all coaches are now required to complete concussion awareness training.
The Manitoba Soccer Association, which came under considerable heat last year for not having a policy, adopted a formal protocol on May 11.
On a provincial level, Quebec created a working group to study the issue of concussions and out of that came 40 recommendations delivered last December to François Blais, the minister responsible for sport and recreation. The action plan calls for concussion protocols to be adopted in Quebec schools, but it does not say if legislation or policy is in the works.
Currently, Ontario is the only province in the country to have an education policy on concussion management in schools. The policy was enacted in 2015 following Stringer’s death. B.C. is also studying the issue. “Our focus to date has been on working with our partners to develop a standardized educational approach, as well as evidence-based protocols for returning to activities following a concussion,” the B.C. Ministry of Health said in a written statement. “It’s important for B.C. to continue implementing these education tools and allow sufficient time to measure the success of our current programs before moving towards a legislative approach.”
Provincial and territorial sports ministers are meeting this week with federal sports minister Carla Qualtrough. Concussion education and management are believed to be high on the agenda.
The federal government allocated $1.4 million over two years in the budget to work with the provinces and territories with a focus on athlete and student return-to-play and return-tolearn protocols.
“The Rowan Stringer death was a wake-up call for a lot of sports,” Tator says. “Various measures have been put in place as a result of her death and as a result of the inquest. I think we’re moving in the right direction, but we’re not there yet.”