Safe Communities America is a program of the National Safety Council. It brings local partners together to work on creating safer cities by identifying the leading cause of injury and creating plans to address them. Dallas has received the Safe Communities America designation and Fort Worth has just been named as well. Pate had the honor of staff members serving on two of the committees. Injury is a leading cause of brain injuries and we’re proud to be part of the task forces.
As part of the Child Safety Task Force, Kelley Allen, physical therapist at Pate, had the opportunity to help firefighters and police officers fit and hand out helmets to children from ML Phillips Elementary School who arrived at school without them. Pate donated 200 helmets for the event. Children who arrived at school wearing a helmet received a free ice cream coupon. Of the nine children who rode bicycles to ML Phillips Elementary School that day, only one child was wearing a helmet. Children under the age of 18 are required by law to wear a helmet while riding a bicycle.
Carlos Hernandez, clinical liaison at Pate, serves on the Sports Injury Task Force. The primary goal of the Sports Injury Task Force is to train and educate the community regarding sports-related injuries. Recently, the task force began a concussion training program, consisting of the FWISD coaching and athletic training staff, called the HEAD, HEAT and HEART program. The training educates coaches and trainers on how to recognize concussions, how to prevent heat stroke, and how to perform CPR.
With the opening of our new Fort Worth facility, we are happy to be involved with Safe Communities America. It has already made an impact on the Fort Worth community, and we are excited to continue our involvement. We look forward to seeing what the future holds for Forth Worth and its continued prevention of acquired brain injuries through the Child Safety Task Force and the Sports Injury Task Force.