Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital trauma and safety teams handed out helmets at an event recently and urged children to wear them every time they ride anything from a skateboard to a scooter to a dirt bike to help prevent serious and potentially fatal injuries this summer.
“Kids outgrow helmets just like they outgrow clothes or shoes,” says Jessica Strong, community health director at Primary Children’s. “Parents should check the fit of their child’s helmet before they ride. If they need a new helmet, parents don’t need to spend a lot of money. Helmets are available in retail stores in a number of price ranges, and all have passed safety requirements to help kids have a safer ride.”
Parents can check the fit of their child’s helmet by ensuring the following:
- The helmet fits snugly and sits level on the child’s head.
- The helmet fits two finger widths above the child’s eyebrow.
- The side strap V-shape fits just under the child’s ears.
- One adult’s finger can fit between the child’s chin and the strap.
Primary Children’s clinicians handed out helmets on Wednesday, June 15, to families at the Lehi Skatepark, near the construction site of the new Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital Larry H. and Gail Miller Family Campus.
Child trauma incidents historically rise in the summer months, and peak in July. The Intermountain West also has the fourth-highest traumatic brain injury hospitalization rate in the country for children. Some of these injuries could be prevented by wearing a helmet.
“As a pediatric trauma surgeon, it’s heartbreaking to see a child come in with injuries that could have been prevented, or made far less severe, by wearing a helmet,” says Katie Russell, MD, University of Utah Health and trauma medical director at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital.
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