Province puts $75,000 toward concussion awareness efforts

By Lethbridge Herald on September 17, 2025.

Nathan Reiter
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative

The provincial government is raising awareness about the dangers of concussions.

Wednesday, Sept. 24 will mark Alberta Concussion Awareness Day while the entire week from Sept. 21-27 will be Concussion Awareness Week.

Over the past three years, the Ministry of Tourism and Sport has invested $75,000 in concussion awareness throughout the province.

During a press conference in Edmonton, Dr. Kathy Belton from the University of Alberta spoke about the dangers of concussions.

“Concussions are a serious public health issue in Alberta and can happen anywhere and to anyone.” Belton explained. “A concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury and is caused by any blow to the head, face, neck or body. And it changes the way a person thinks and feels. Approximately 41 Albertans sustained a concussion each day. That’s almost 15,000 concussions annually being diagnosed in Alberta emergency departments. That number does not include concussions being treated in physician’s offices, walk-in clinics or those not recognized or treated”

According to Belton, the top three causes of concussions in the province are falls, motor vehicle collisions and sport activities. 

One sport that has seen scrutiny about concussions in recent years is football. 

According to a 2024 study from Mass General Brigham, a cohort of 2,000 former NFL players were interviewed and 25% believed they were experiencing Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), which is a brain disease linked to repeated head injuries. It causes the death of nerve cells in the brain and can only be definitely diagnosed during an autopsy of the brain.

In a study performed by Boston University, CTE was found in the brains of 345 of 376 deceased former NFL players.

Tim Enger, the executive director of Football Alberta says the sport needs to lead by example in terms of concussion prevention. 

“Our sport is particularly popular on television. You can watch football anywhere from June all the way to February. It attracts a large viewership at the professional level. 20 years ago, it was a bit of a crisis and people were paying attention to it. It’s not only important for it to be recognized today, but every day. We need to be particularly vigilant because concussions (are) an invisible injury. It’s something that we’re not 100% sure it’s there. We have to be erring on the side of incredible caution. The more we bring it up, the more we focus on it, the better we’re going to be in terms of being able to identify, treat, and reduce incidents.”

More information on concussion prevention, management and treatment can be found at sportmedab.ca