Genesis Donates Helmets For Bike Safety Event

SILVIS, Ill. -- More than 500 students at Colona Grade School, Colona, Ill., will start their summer vacations with a new bike helmet and information to keep them safe on their bikes throughout the year.

Thanks to the Quad Cities Safe Kids program and a donation from Genesis Health System, the students at Colona Grade School will participate in the "All Heads Covered’’ program to promote bicycle safety on Tuesday, May 27.

Genesis Medical Center, Illini Campus in Silvis is the lead sponsor of Quad Cities Safe Kids.

Every child in Colona Grade School will receive a bike helmet. There will also be a safety presentation and video. The event starts at 8:30 a.m.

Keene Hart, director of Quad City Safe Kids and a paramedic at Genesis Medical Center, Illini Campus, said the concept of the "All Heads Covered’’ program is to promote bicycle safety and prevent injuries.

"Thanks to the generous support of sponsors in the past, and again this year with the support of Genesis, we’re in our 11th year of this program and have given away more than 10,000 helmets,’’ Hart said. "Not only is it an excellent safety program, it’s just a lot of fun to give out the helmets and see the fun the kids are having.’’

Each year, more than 500,000 people in the United States are treated in emergency departments, and more than 700 people die, as a result of bicycle-related injuries. Children account for more than half of all bicycle-related injuries in United States.

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