Two women’s clubs are seeking lawyers and doctors to participate in the first Jawbones v. Sawbones basketball game on March 3 in Atlanta to benefit the Side by Side Brain Injury Clubhouse.

The GFWC Stone Mountain Woman’s Club and the GFWC Lilburn Woman’s Club are collaborating on the benefit game, to be held annually.

Side by Side, which opened in 2000, has served 300-plus adults with brain injuries from 14 metro Atlanta counties and 13 ethnic backgrounds. It provides long-term support services like career counseling; vocational evaluations; and job training, preparation and coaching.

Side by Side also offers training and ongoing support of living skills to optimize independence in the community; respite for caregivers; evening and weekend social programming; and advocacy, resource and service coordination.

Organizers of the Jawbones v. Sawbones basketball game say the physicians and attorneys should be willing to help on any and all levels of the event, including playing basketball.

Businesses, health care providers, and service groups also are needed to purchase sponsorships and program advertisements and to sell tickets and raise money within their offices and organizations.

The inaugural Jawbones v. Sawbones game takes place 7 to 9 p.m. in the gymnasium at St. Pius X High School in Atlanta.

Each year, 1.7 million people sustain a traumatic brain injury in the United States. Brain injuries have received media attention with increasing numbers of athletes suffering concussions; however, accidents, falls, strokes and aneurysms also cause brain injuries. The number of people surviving and living with brain injury is increasing, and TBI is a leading injury that U.S. military service members incur.

More brain injuries occur every year than diagnoses of multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries, HIV/AIDS and breast cancer combined.

Many people who suffer a brain injury have no place to go after their medical care and rehabilitation ends at facilities like the Shepherd Center and Emory.

As a result, they languish and never reach their full potential or feel a part of their community anymore.

In metro Atlanta, Side by Side is one of only 25 clubhouses worldwide serving this growing population of adults.

The clubhouse is a bridge of support for the transition of a person with brain injury from medical patient to contributing community member. It is the only program of its kind in Georgia.

The nonprofit received founding sponsorship from the Shepherd Center and Emory Healthcare.

For more information, visit www.sidebysideclubhouse.org or call 770-469-9385 or contact Laurie Wexel at lwexel@bellsouth.net or 770-279-9903.