The Greenspan family of Massapequa Park, in an ongoing effort to promote awareness about the effects of head injuries, is seeking the community's support for production of a pamphlet that provides referrals to information on this little-known subject.

Fred Greenspan, father of Tammy Greenspan, who is living with a head injury she suffered when struck by a van at the age of 16 in 1996, compiled the pamphlet and arranged for Stony Brook University to print 1500 copies. But several hundred thousand are needed to ensure sufficient distribution in hospitals, libraries, police and fire stations, Mr. Greenspan noted this week.

The Massapequa resident has approached several businesses for help in mass-producing and distributing the brochure, which he feels are desperately needed by Long Island families coping with head injury. Fred has also formed a non-profit organization to spearhead this and other head injury awareness efforts - the Tammy Greenspan Miracle Corp. Greenspan is in the process of obtaining federal tax-exempt status for the organization, which has already been approved by the state. Some national and Nassau-based businesses have indicated that they will donate toward the production of the pamphlet once the organization receives tax-exempt status, Greenspan noted.

"I am hoping the Long Island community will come through," Greenspan said.

The cover of the pamphlet catches the eye through a softened photograph of a child who has suffered a head injury, with his mother at his hospital bedside. A look inside reveals resources for families dealing with head injury, such as a special collection of books on the subject at the Farmingdale Public Library.

The collection, initiated in 1998, is named for Tammy Greenspan and was made possible by a grant from Assemblyman Steven Labriola of Massapequa. The collection is used by not only local residents, but people throughout the world. However, Greenspan feels that it should be better publicized, because if more people knew about it, more families would take advantage of it. The books have proven extremely valuable to him and his wife, Lynn, as they have tried to learn more about the effects of head injury, such as memory loss, and Fred feels the materials could help others.

For more information on the Head Injury Collection at the Farmingdale Library, one may call a toll-free direct line to the collection, which was made possible by a donation from American Long Lines, a long distance telephone company based in Pennsylvania. The toll-free number is 877-HEADINJ.