Gearing up for Safety

Academy members hand out Hard Hats for Little Heads

By Jonathan Nelson

More than 1,000 kids have shiny new bicycle helmets this summer, thanks to TAFP members in 10 cities who volunteered to host helmet giveaways through the TMA’s Hard Hats for Little Heads Program. Almost all of the events occurred during National Bicycle Safety Month in May.

Hard Hats for Little Heads is a program designed to help Texas children prevent head injuries and promote helmet safety in bicycling, in-line skating, skateboarding and when riding scooters. To participate, physicians contact the program coordinator with TMA to schedule an event and to order helmets. TMA pays for up to 50 helmets and volunteers match the purchases.

TAFP President Erica Swegler, M.D., saw this program as an opportunity to achieve one of her main goals: to promote the specialty of family medicine. One of the most important findings of AAFP’s Future of Family Medicine Project is that many people don’t really know who family physicians are or what they do. Throughout her term as president, Swegler has articulated her vision of reintroducing family medicine through public-health-oriented volunteer events in communities across the state where family physicians can interact with families outside the practice environment.

She brought the idea to fruition with a plan for a coordinated statewide campaign in which TAFP staff recruited volunteers from Academy members and directed them to sign up for the Hard Hats program with TMA. TAFP reimbursed its volunteers for their part of the helmet cost and provided press releases, posters, lists of media contacts and other marketing materials for the events, and in May the plan was underway.

The volunteers were brilliant. Many coordinated their events in conjunction with festivals and fairs in their communities to make sure they had good crowds. Ajay Gupta, M.D., of Austin held his event at a child and family safety fair at the Children’s Hospital of Austin. He says well over 500 people attended the fair. “We were out of helmets in about an hour. A lot of those parents were really grateful.” A week before the event, Gupta addressed a group of local reporters at a press conference arranged by the fair coordinators where he talked about bicycle safety and the Hard Hats program.

TAFP Vice President, Doug Curran, M.D., of Lakeland Medical Associates in Athens, arranged for several of the family physicians in his group practice to host a booth at the annual Old Fiddlers Reunion and Contest, where a huge crowd milled about the courthouse square listening to bands on the main stage, feasting on plates of carnival fare and wandering through the many impromptu “jams” happening all around the grounds. Musicians from all over the country had traveled to Athens to revel in the old Texas swing tunes.

Parents and kids began streaming over to the Hard Hats booth as soon as the tape was cut on the first box of helmets. Marcus Abadie, M.D., showed up wearing his cycling shirt, shorts and helmet to greet the kids and Kenneth Lemmon, M.D., helped a group of Boy Scouts and volunteers from the local YMCA distribute and fit the helmets. A number of staff persons from Lakeland Medical Associates registered the kids and passed out safety information and three police officers talked about preventing head injuries with each helmet recipient.

The Lakeland doctors pitched in and bought an extra 200 helmets to add to the 100 they received through the Hard Hats match and in less than an hour, they had handed out every one. “I think it went pretty well,” says Lemmon. “Head injuries are just terrible, and most are totally preventable.”

Tamra Deuser, M.D., of Lewisville paired her event with the Christian Community Action’s Kick Off of their summer Kids Eat Free Program, which provides lunches during the summer for students who qualify for the free lunch program during the school year. She says the event was a “great success.” A policeman helped distribute the helmets and the event received coverage on the front page of the Lewisville Leader and a spot on the Channel 5 News in Dallas.

Rebecca Gladu, M.D., of Baytown says the event she and Clare Hawkins, M.D., put on was also a success. “We were able to give out all 100 helmets and had a lot of press before and after the event,” she says. “The kids were very excited and signed forms committing to wear the safety hard hats when bicycling or scootering.” They held their event during the Long Neck Festival at the Eddie V. Gray Wetlands Center.

TAFP’s current treasurer, Linda Siy, M.D., of Fort Worth worked with a local bicycle shop to host a bike rally and helmet giveaway. The Weimar Mercury covered the Weimar event hosted by Robert Youens, M.D., Olga Duchicela M.D., Juan Carlos Ortega, M.D., and Susan Kraemer, M.D. Dr. Swegler says her event in Keller went very well, too, and she was interviewed on a radio talk show in Houston called “Your Health … With Dr. Galati” by the host, Joseph Galati, M.D.

Swegler hopes this campaign becomes a model for similar projects in the future, bringing the message of family medicine to the communities of Texas. Congratulations to all the members who participated for a job well done. They are: Clare Hawkins, M.D., and Rebecca Gladu, M.D., of Baytown; Tamra Deuser, M.D., of Lewisville; Robert Youens, M.D., Olga Duchicela M.D., Juan Carlos Ortega, M.D., and Susan Kraemer, M.D., of Weimar; Ajay Gupta, M.D., of Austin; Erica Swegler, M.D., and Greg Fuller, M.D., of Keller; Linda Siy, M.D., of Fort Worth; Doug Curran, M.D., Kenneth Lemmon, M.D., and Marcus Abadie, M.D., of Athens; Hans Zambrano, M.D., of Aledo; K. Ashok Kumar, M.D., of San Antonio; Mary Spalding, M.D., and Maria Cottrell, M.D., of El Paso.

Thank you also to the many people who helped these physicians organize their events and to the TMA, the TMA Foundation and the Hard Hats for Little Heads staff for their generous support and for establishing and maintaining the program.

Any TMA member can participate in the Hard Hats for Little Heads program at any time. For inquiries, search for “hard hats” at www.texmed.org.