Letter from the Director from David H. Janda, Director:

Since our last update, we have been extremely productive at The Institute as is evident in the body of the report. All of us at The Institute continue to focus our efforts on the role of injury prevention within our society. Unfortunately, injury is an equal opportunity event that transcends age, gender, race, nationality and continental shelves. In fact, all of us since September 11th, I believe, gained a significant appreciation for the ramifications of prevention activities. Needless to say, injury in its own right is a terrorist, in that it can cause unnecessary lifelong disability, fatality and costs. Over 12 million athletes, age 5-22, in our country this coming year will sustain a sports or recreation related injury, the vast majority of which are completely preventable. In addition, the same individuals will miss 21 million days of school, which again are completely preventable. The good news is that through our efforts at The Institute, many of us believe we are making significant inroads in informing the public about the issue of injury on an international basis and what can be done to prevent these very devastating events.

As I mentioned in previous updates, this was the purpose of writing the book: The Awakening of a Surgeon. I have found over the years when we spoke to prominent individuals in the sporting industry they were completely uninterested in helping people and reducing their associated injuries. Unfortunately many of these individuals were only interested in the almighty dollar and not interested in the people whom were buying their products or participating in their organizations. This is truly unfortunate and the book has served as a wake up call to those individuals within sport and has also led parents, grandparents, community activists, and leaders in becoming more actively involved in sports and recreation in their communities.

The media has played a very active and important role in delivering the message of the book to the public, both on a national and international basis. Ms. Oprah Winfrey and her staff continue to be very supportive of the book, as well as, our efforts at The Institute. In fact just the other day Ms. Winfrey presented our show in the Southern hemisphere, since it is summer at this time of the year. She has continued to feature the book, as well as the show, on her website. In addition, the electronic media led by Dick Purtan, truly has lent significant help to our efforts in getting the word out about our efforts at The Institute as well as the book. The fact that Investors Business Daily would feature The Institute in a feature piece in its daily newspaper was a very important step in the business world. Unfortunately, the vast majority of folks in the business world are completely unaware of the ramifications of the toll injuries are taking on their employees and subsequently driving up their own health care costs. The Investors Business Daily piece was a wake up call to everyone involved in the business industry of the magnitude and importance of injury and the deleterious effect injury is taking on their own companies. We have had excellent feedback from folks within the business community about that presentation.

There have been a number of organizations that have stepped to the plate in the past several months that have made an enormous difference in getting the word out about The Institute, our research and the book. First and foremost, has been the Kiwanis International Organization. I had the fortunate opportunity of presenting in Tecumseh, Michigan to the local Kiwanis group. That presentation led to significant positive events as it relates to informing the public. Mr. Ed Walters, Dr. Cal Tuttle, and Ms. Paula Tuttle have all stepped to the plate and embraced The Institute as well as the book, in getting the word out to their community. In fact, these three individuals decided that it was such an important message that they convinced the Governor of Kiwanis of the State of Michigan, as well as the Board of the State of Michigan, to make injury prevention, The Institute’s research, and the book The State of Michigan Program for the year 2002. It is their hope, and our hope, that this will be so positively received that the Kiwanis Organization will make it their 2003 International Program. All of us at The Institute are truly indebted to Ed, Cal, and Paula, for their diligence in helping us get the word out to people at the grass roots level. The power of the Kiwanis Organization is enormous in that they interdigitate with every business and every person at the community level. They are truly a grass roots organization that has a profound effect on their individual communities. By integrating The Institute’s research, our message, and the book with their state program in a few short months we can transform the “Killing Fields in Michigan to the Premier Safety Fields.” All of us at The Institute look forward to working with the Kiwanis.

In addition, Mr. Matthew Buccilli, with the National Safe Kids Organization, has become a very important ambassador of our research, our message and the book. Mr. Buccilli felt that the information in the book, as well as the message of our research, was so important that he immediately stepped to the plate and delivered the information to the hands of over 300 coalitions of the National Safe Kids Campaign throughout the United States. The National Safe Kids Campaign is a grass roots organization that positively affects student athletes at every level. It is truly an honor that Mr.Bucilli and the National Safe Kids Campaign embraced our message and our information in such a positive manner.

I would like to thank the David A. Brandon Foundation, for their fundraising efforts on behalf of the Institute, along with the individuals and corporations who were so kind and generous in their donations. Without your support our injury prevention research would not be possible.

As I have mentioned in previous updates, the reason why I wrote the book, The Awakening of a Surgeon, was to empower parents, grandparents, community activists, and leaders by providing them the necessary information in order to make their families, communities, and nation safer and healthier. As I have also mentioned, when we try to get leaders of organized sport involved in prevention issues they have been very unwilling. It was not until we informed the masses that we actually started to see safer and healthier communities. By providing the information to the public we empowered them by giving them the necessary information to make their communities safer. It is my hope and objective that every community in every country will become safer with the information and the message I deliver in the book: The Awakening of a Surgeon. At least 80% of sports and recreation injuries, which are of epidemic proportion on a worldwide basis, are completely preventable with the information provided in the book. However, the book does not do anyone any good sitting in a bookstore and not being utilized to help the very people it was written for. Therefore, the media and in particular, Ms. Oprah Winfrey, Fox Network News, Investors Business Daily, in addition to local and network radio shows have served an important role of delivering the message to the publics’ doorstep. In addition, the integration of the Kiwanis Organization, as well as the National Safe Kids Organization has led to distribution of the information, the message, the book, and the hope of drastically reducing these very preventable deleterious injuries.

It has been remarkable to me how few business entities have embraced the message of the book and delivered it to their employees, their customers, and their communities in which they operate and provide services. The exception has been Mr. Bill Young and Absopure Water and Plasti Pack Packaging. Bill Young has been a long time friend of The Institute’s and our message. Bill stepped to the plate when no one else was willing from the business community and delivered on his belief of the power of prevention. Bill and Absopure Water distributed ten thousand copies of the book and its message to its employees and their customers. Needless to say, all of us at the Institute are indebted to Bill since the proceeds of the book do benefit the Institute. In addition, Bill and Absopure Water have single handedly positively effected ten thousand individuals and their families with the distribution of the information and the message. Those ten thousand individuals will hopefully become ambassadors of our prevention message at the Institute and thereby help their families, friends and communities in an exponential fashion. Since its inception over twelve and a half years ago, I have had many individuals tell me that The Institute would fail, that we would never be able to last another year, or that we would never make a difference in peoples lives. Bill Young and Absopure Water are living testaments to the power of perseverance and the philosophy of “Dreaming Big and Daring to Fail.” It is my hope that as time passes more individuals will continue to step to the plate as Bill Young and Absopure Water have and help their families, their employees, their communities, and their countries by delivering the very important powerful message that is delivered in the book, The Awakening of a Surgeon.