Plan a helmet giveaway during Brain Injury Awareness Month

TMA’s Hard Hats for Little Heads bicycle helmet giveaway program wants to protect the heads of children across the state during October, National Brain Injury Awareness Month. You can join this effort — and our media blitz — by planning a giveaway in your local community.

Our goal is to have at least 30 helmet giveaway events during the month to show medicine’s commitment to prevention and safety, including a local push in the Austin metro area. By having many events during the month, TMA can orchestrate a media blitz so your efforts receive local media coverage and Hard Hats for Little Heads earns statewide recognition. TMA will send a statewide release listing all events around the state and encouraging local media coverage for these — your — events.

For each event, TMA provides 50 free helmets with a matching purchase. Along with helmets, TMA provides a host of educational materials, such as a step-by-step outreach kit, posters, flyers, banners and media relations support. All materials are available in English and Spanish. We’ve also added an educational video that features a TMA physician for use at your event.

For the third year in a row, the Texas Academy of Family Physicians is partnering with TMA’s Hard Hats for Little Heads program. TAFP will sponsor up to 25 events for its members, paying for 50 helmets per giveaway. With the TMA match, TAFP family physicians can put on a 100-helmet event in their community for free.

Hard Hats for Little Heads was created by TMA to help children more safely enjoy wheeled activities – such as biking, skateboarding and in-line skating. The program is funded by TMA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Association, through a grant from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas and contributions from physicians and their families.

To find out how you can get involved, visit TMA’s Hard Hats Web site, www.texmed.org/hardhats, or contact Program Coordinator Tammy Wishard at (512) 331-6336 or hardhats@texmed.org.