London, ON – Warm spring weather and the lure of the outdoors have prompted many people across London and Middlesex County to oil up their chains, don their helmet and take to the open road for a bike ride. Cycling is one of the activities which fit in with Parachute Canada’s 20th annual Safe Kids Week, May 4th to 10th, where the focus is on cycling and road safety. According to the World Health Organization, more than 186,300 children around the world lose their lives each year as a result of road traffic crashes, while motor vehicle collisions are the second leading cause of unintentional hospitalizations and deaths in the Middlesex-London region. This year, Safe Kids Week coincides with the United Nations third Global Road Safety Week.
“Safe Kids Week is a reminder for all of us that we have a role to play in preventing injuries in our children. Head injuries are the number one cause of serious injury and death for kids who ride their bikes, yet these injuries are predictable and preventable,” says Meagan Melling, Public Health Nurse with the Middlesex-London Health Unit’s Injury Prevention Team. “As part of our effort this spring to make our roads safer, we’re also holding a contest where families can win bicycle helmets for each member.”
To enter the contest, visit the MLHU website at www.healthunit.com/helmet-and-road-safety and click on the Child Helmet and Road Safety Contest link.
In addition to focusing on road safety, the MLHU is also shining a light on another important cause of childhood injury: choking. To help parents gain a better understanding of what items around their home could pose a choking risk, the Health Unit is providing free “choking prevention tubes” to parents and caregivers of young children under the age of three. The transparent acrylic tubes are used to test whether or not an object or small toy could become lodged in a child’s throat.
The tubes can be requested by visiting a Well Baby/Child and Breastfeeding Clinic, emailing childsafety@mlhu.on.ca or by calling the Health Connection at 519-850-2280.
Parachute’s Safe Kids Week is an annual campaign designed to raise awareness about the frequency and severity of preventable childhood injuries, which are the leading cause of death and disability amongst Canadian children. Parachute has numerous online resources for parents, community organizations and others at: www.parachutecanada.org/safekidsweek.
A national charity dedicated to preventing injuries and saving lives, Parachute officially formed in July 2012, when the former Safe Communities Canada, Safe Kids Canada, SMARTRISK and ThinkFirst Canada merged.
Visit www.healthunit.com/news/safe-kids-week-2015 for more information about road safety.
Media Contacts:
Dan Flaherty, Communications Manager, Middlesex-London Health Unit, 519-663-5317 ext. 2469 or 519-617-0570 (cell)
Spokesperson:
Meagan Melling, Public Health Nurse, Healthy Communities and Injury Prevention Team