Nat’l expert talks concussions at Wi-Hi

More than 100 eastern shore educators, athletic trainers, parents and school administrators came together on Monday to hear a presentation by Doctor Gerard Gioia, the Division Chief of Neuropsychology at the Children’s National Health System.

Gioia stressed the need for communication between school administrators, parents and doctors. He says he hopes to implement his concussion management system here on the shore, providing schools with tools and structure.

“We can do something very active and positive to help kids with concussions recover. The schools play an important role there and the schools have to partner with our medical providers to make sure that we’ve defined what the injury is like for that kid, how it’s playing out in school.” Gioia told 47 ABC.

Dr. Gioia tells 47 ABC the biggest flaw in current concussion treatment is that the child’s needs are not being identified.

If you can’t get to a doctor right away but feel that your son or daughter may have suffered a concussion, be sure to make use of an app developed by Doctor Gioia.

The concussion recognition and response application was designed to help parents and coaches identify concussions. The app takes you though a series of questions in which you must answer yes or not. After completing the questions you will learn whether or not the one being test has a concussion or not. Then, a complete summary of the test appears and allows you to email it to the appropriate parties.