Brain Injury Awareness | Video

Van Tieu | 3/12/2013

A flock of paper cranes were strung up in the Capitol today as a part of Brain Injury Awareness Week. Each paper crane represents one of 13,000 North Dakotans living with a traumatic brain injury. There were 450 Red, White and Blue cranes that symbolized a veteran with a brain injury.

"Symptoms can be memory problems, distractibility, impulse control issues, sometimes mood regulations, sleep disturbances, speech problems, vision problems. Unfortunately our brain controls everything we do, so everything we do. So everything we do can be impacted by a brain injury," said Rebecca Quinn with the Head Injury Association of North Dakota.

The visual is also a reminder that those living with brain injury are not alone, and can seek out support in the state. Volunteers spent the last year hand-crafting each paper crane.

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