Every spring for the past 8 years, we have been privileged to distribute bicycle helmets to elementary school children in Ottawa. On behalf of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association (OTLA), we raise funds in our community and then give out the helmets at school assemblies where we also have a chance to speak to the children about helmet and bike safety. We prepare a brain made out of jello that the kids can see and touch and we have them do an egg drop (one egg in a specially made helmet, one with no helmet). The children are always engaged and the school staff follow up with further in-class discussions about safety.

When you work everyday with children and families who have suffered injuries, it really is a privilege and a delight to be able to devote some time to injury prevention every spring. This year we are giving out almost 500 helmets!

At our kick-off event, which took place at Vincent Massey Public School on April 28, 2016, out guest presenters included Dr. Vassilyadi, a pediatric neurosurgeon from CHEO and medical director of ThinkFirst/Parachute Ottawa, and 20 year old Tyler Lisacek, who was injured in a bicycle/car crash at the age of 13, and Bob Linney, Tyler’s stepfather. The students are always most attentive when Tyler tells his compelling story of injury and remarkable recovery.

This year, we decided to expand into some of the outlying Eastern Ontario areas. Yesterday, we gave out helmets and presented to students at two after school programs run by the Boys and Girls Club in Cornwall, at Gladstone Public School and Cornwall Central Public School. The Cornwall Police, including Chief Dan Parkinson, attended and spoke to the students about their upcoming bike rodeo. You can read more about yesterday’s events in Todd Hambleton’s article in teh Cornwall Standard Freeholder: http://www.standard-freeholder.com/2016/05/10/lawyers-cops-help-cornwall-boys-and-girls-club-kids-put-a-lid-on-their-lid

We are a bilingual firm and a bilingual City so we always distribute to French schools as well. On April 28, 2016, we distributed helmets at École élémentaire catholique Horizon-Jeunesse in Ottawa and, on May 3, 2016, we distributed at École élémentaire catholique Elda-Rouleau in Alexandria.

On Thursday, May 12, 2016, we will wrap up this year’s Helmets on Kids distribution at St. Joseph Catholic School in Arnprior. We’re looking forward to meeting the students there!

For more information on OTLA’s Helmets on Kids program, please click here: https://www.otla.com/index.cfm?pg=BikeHelmetsForKids

We hope all the school children in Ottawa and throughout Eastern Ontario get to spend lots of time outdoors playing this summer and we hope you all stay safe riding your bikes and scooters, skateboarding, swimming, and in all your activities.