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LEHI — Most children are aware that they should wear helmets while riding a bike, whether they actually do or not, but Primary Children's Hospital doctors say helmets often get forgotten during other sports, like scootering, skating or even sledding.
Katie Russell, a trauma surgeon and medical director for the hospital, said Wednesday that doctors do see seasonal injury increases with a significant increase in the summer. Currently they are seeing patients come in for trauma care daily, and head injuries are the most common.
"We strongly feel that helmets can really help (prevent) injuries and also save lives," she said.
Russell said doctors care for children with concussions, skull fractures, and brain bleeding, and all of these injuries can have major impacts on a child's life. Many times these bad head injuries could have been prevented if the child had been wearing a helmet.
Russell believes the bike and ski industries have done a good job encouraging helmets, but there are other instances when helmets could also make a big difference — while riding all-terrain vehicles, even utility task vehicles (which frequently have a canopy), scooters, roller blades and sledding. She said helmets really do save lives and brain function.
She said she is frequently reminding children in her neighborhood to wear helmets, and encourages parents to invest in helmets that look cool so their children will be more eager to wear them.
"Get a good helmet, and then just encourage them to wear it," Russell said. "It's not cool to have a brain injury."
Brynn Homer, a mother from West Jordan, said her children each have a specific place for their helmets which helps them remember to wear them. They are always there and available. She said the kids are pretty good at wearing them anytime they get on something with wheels.
Her oldest son was born with a heart defect, so his health team encouraged him to wear a helmet. Homer said her daughters said having an older brother wear a helmet helped teach them, and her children also encourage other neighbors to wear helmets.
Her kids were enjoying the skate park Wednesday and talked about their helmets, and how they have specific helmets for different activities like mountain biking, scooters and skiing.
Homer hasn't had to bring any children to Primary Children's Hospital with a head injury, but she said there have been multiple times when her children fell and avoided serious injuries because they had helmets on. She has two sons who crashed and hit their heads hard enough they lost their front teeth, but both were wearing helmets protecting their heads.
"Always, always, always wear a helmet," she said, adding that it's "one of those things that we just push so, so much, because I know it saves people."
Jessica Strong, community health director at Primary Children's Hospital, listed ways to make sure that a helmet fits correctly:
- The front of the helmet should be about two finger widths above the eyebrows to help it protect the head if the child falls forward.
- The straps should form a "V" over their ears.
- There should be enough space under the chin to stick a finger between the strap and their chin.
- It should fit snuggly and comfortably on their heads.
She said kids outgrow helmets frequently, so parents should do a check for fit at the start of the season, and maybe in the middle as well.
Strong said helmets should be worn when kids are using anything with wheels. Strong said sports professionals are almost always wearing safety equipment, which can help children realize that wearing a helmet is something that makes them look more, not less, professional.
Because Primary Children's Hospital wants to make sure that children have helmets available, hospital officials distributed some at the event and are also giving out helmets to children admitted into the emergency room who don't have them. Strong also suggested that parents can reach out to their local health departments that may have some helmets available through partnerships with Intermountain Healthcare. A good helmet, she said, doesn't necessarily need to be expensive to be effective.
