With summer right around the corner, many children are starting to hop on their bikes and pedal around the neighborhood.
Unfortunately, every day more than 600 children are treated in emergency departments across the country for bicycle-related injuries. When these injuries are to the head, they can be serious.
However, wearing a bike helmet can lower the risk of brain injury up to 88%, so doctors and safety experts recommend that you wear a helmet every time you ride. To increase the reach of this message, Trainees for Childhood Injury Prevention (T4CIP) is hosting a Bike Helmet Safety Day of Action on Wednesday, May 25th.
T4CIP is a group of trainees (medical students, residents, fellows and attendings) from across the country who are all passionate about preventing childhood injuries. Trainees are engaging their home institutions and hospitals to bring awareness to the importance of children wearing bike helmets. Participants will be spreading information through social media, presenting during rounds at their institutions, and getting involved in their communities directly.
Here at NEOMED, second-year medical students Page Cimino and Abby Dryden are working with Akron Children’s Safe Mobility Project to distribute bike helmets and teach bike helmet safety to elementary schools in the area. Additionally, look out for more bike helmet safety information on NEOMED’s instagram page (@neomededu) on May 25th.
How can you get involved? Share/repost graphics and statistics about bicycle safety and the importance of wearing a helmet, and join the T4CIP Bike Helmet Safety Twitter Chat by using the hashtag #WearAHelmet from 2-3 p.m. ET on Wednesday, May 25.