Local study makes national media worthy presentation at the Pediatric Academic Society conference

March 20, 2003

The Helmets for High Risk Riders program has been a signature helmet safety activity of IFCK Philadelphia since 2000. Through this program, children who come to the Hospital emergency department as a result of an injury while cycling, skate boarding, or scootering receive a personally fitted helmet as well as developmentally appropriate education on safe riding and playing strategies. In the summer of 2002, David Holtzman added a survey to the program to collect information on the attitudes children and their parents have about helmet use, and nonuse.

Through this survey, David made several interesting findings that will benefit us in our injury prevention efforts. His abstract, Do as I say and as I do: The effect of parental influence on helmet use in urban children injured as cyclists, was accepted for presentation at the Pediatric Academic Society conference this May in Seattle, Washington (add the link to the conference). This abstract was additionally selected as one of fifty that the Society deemed “media worthy” out of the nearly 2000 presentations at the conference.

###

For a summary of the findings on this impressive study, contact the author, David Holtzman (215-590-4010, holtzman@hotmail.com) or wait for it to come out in the published form in the coming months.