"Think First" for Summertime Safety

Summer is here and the kids are out of school. While summer is the perfect time for fun and games, it’s important to keep safe, too. Shepherd Center, a catastrophic care hospital in Atlanta, specializes in the medical treatment and rehabilitation of people with spinal cord and brain injuries. Each year Shepherd offers world class care to more than 750 individuals who sustain spinal cord or brain injuries and conducts thousands of outpatient visits. Shepherd Center also focuses on education to prevent these types of injuries.

A Shepherd Center representative, specializing in injury prevention, makes presentations throughout the Atlanta area. Presentations are age-appropriate and focus on messages such as wearing seat belts and helmets, avoiding drinking alcohol, and checking the water depth before diving, as well as tips for safely driving, hunting and participating in sports.

In the summer, the focus turns primarily to helmet, diving and driving safety.

Helmet Safety

In the United States, one person incurs a traumatic brain injury every 21 seconds. Helmets are a must for kids riding bikes, rollerblades or skateboards. The program offers reasons to wear the helmet and how to wear it properly. According to the ThinkFirst Foundation, 85-88 percent of critical head and brain injuries can be prevented through the use of a bicycle helmet.

Statistics show that young bike riders get hit by cars more often in the early evening hours between 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. due to the sun being in the eyes of the drivers. Parents and kids should plan to be home before that time and not out on a bike or rollerblades.

Diving Safety

The ThinkFirst Foundation recommends that people should never dive into the ocean or a lake head first. Ninety percent of diving injuries take place in six feet of water or less. Always enter the water feet first due to the changing depths of water and not being able to see the bottom clearly to judge depth. The program also stresses not diving into any recreation center or back yard pool head first with a depth of less than eight feet. Approximately 1,000 recreational diving injuries occur each year and 90 percent of diving injuries result in quadriplegia.

Driver's Education

Two out of five deaths among teens in the United States are a result of a motor vehicle crash. In Georgia, Driver’s Ed courses are required for teens for the graduated driver's license. The course addresses safety belt usage and airbag awareness, as well as making better decisions.

For more information about Shepherd Center’s programs and ThinkFirst in Georgia, contact Pete Collman, Shepherd Center Community Relations Coordinator and Think First Director, Georgia chapter at 404-350-7469