March is National Brain Injury Awareness Month, a time to recognize the more than 5 million Americans living with traumatic brain injury (TBI)-related disabilities.

TBI can occur when an outside force impacts the head with enough force to move the brain within the skull, resulting in a direct injury to the brain.

"Those suffering from traumatic brain injury can display a wide variety of symptoms based on the severity of the injury," said Kirsten Pollick, Naval Hospital (NH) Jacksonville's neuropsychologist, TBI program director, and mental health department head. "Common signs and symptoms include headache or neck pain, memory loss, slowness in thinking, speaking, acting, or reading, getting lost or easily confused, fatigue and mood changes, blurred vision, and ear ringing."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, TBI accounted for more than 2.2 million emergency department visits, 280,000 hospitalizations, and 50,000 deaths in the U.S. in 2010. And its estimated impact on the economy is about $60 billion annually.

Signs and symptoms of TBI may be subtle and might not appear until days or weeks following the injury, while some symptoms can be missed altogether. Children with a brain injury can have the same symptoms as adults, but it's often harder for them to let others know how they feel.

Active duty and reservists are at an increased risk for sustaining a TBI, due to deployment to areas where risks of experiencing blast exposures - such as improvised explosive devices - are increased. However, about 80 percent of TBIs in new military personnel occur in non-deployed settings, such as motor vehicle crashes, firearms, falls, sports, and physical violence.

From 2000 to 2014, almost 314,000 service members sustained a traumatic brain injury in both training and combat -- 83 percent were mild.

Individuals with suspected brain injuries should seek medical care immediately by contacting their Medical Home Port team to schedule an appointment, or for emergencies go to the emergency room or call 911.

NH Jacksonville patients may be evaluated by the hospital's TBI screening program after receiving a consultation or referral from their Medical Home Port team, the Deployment Health Center, Neurology, or Behavioral Health.

To find out more about the hospital's TBI program, call the program manager at (904) 546-6331. For more on deployment services, contact the Deployment Health Center at (904) 546-7099.

Celebrating its 75th Anniversary this year, NH Jacksonville's priority since its founding in 1941 is to heal the nation's heroes and their families. The command is comprised of the Navy's third largest hospital and five branch health clinics across Florida and Georgia. Of its patient population (163,000 active and retired Sailors, Soldiers, Marines, Airmen, Guardsmen, and their families), about 85,000 are enrolled with a primary care manager and Medical Home Port team at one of its facilities.

To find out more or download the command's mobile app, visit www.med.navy.mil/sites/navalhospitaljax.

For more news from Naval Hospital Jacksonville, visit www.navy.mil/.