Hospital Community Event: Bike Rodeo and Free Helmets Help Teach Safe Riding Skills - and Keep Kids Out of Florida Hospital
Free Bike Helmets
Here’s a civic-minded idea that a hospital, urgent care center and many other healthcare organizations can organize and produce for the benefit of the community…and capture a bit of publicity and public relations in the process.
It also illustrates the fact that your budget doesn’t have to do all the heavy lifting if you recruit additional sponsors, including promotional support from the retail sector.
Here’s the story…
Florida Hospital Oceanside in Ormond Beach saw a need in their community—kids were getting hurt on bicycles and not wearing helmets.
So recently the hospital teamed up with Florida Imaging and Plan B Cycling and turned the hospital parking lot into a bike rodeo for riders ages 4 to 17 (and their parents).
The bike rodeo program was a relatively low-cost and high-visibility hospital public relations event. It was aimed at teaching the importance of bicycle safety at a young age and it was a good way to serve the community.
Kids received a free helmet, a free bicycle inspection and an opportunity to ride a safety course—navigating around, through and between dozens of orange cones. Some bikes still had training wheels, and loaner bikes were available if needed. Florida Imaging bought a thousand bike helmets (in four sizes) for the rodeo event. Each participant was properly fitted and shown the proper way to wear the headgear.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recommends wearing a helmet. The commission estimates that about half of all bicycle-related emergency room-treated injuries involved children under the age of 16. (This safety issue is a nationwide concern and a promotional springboard that applies everywhere.)
This is the second bike rodeo sponsored by Florida Hospital Oceanside in Ormond Beach as a community public relations and safety education program.
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