UA Nursing Students to Present Bike Helmets to Local Elementary Students

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — About 75 children participating in a Tuscaloosa’s One Place after-school program will receive bicycle helmets Tuesday, April 8, as part of a bike injury prevention program taught by University of Alabama nursing students.

The students, from first through fifth grades, will receive the helmets, donated by UA’s Capstone College of Nursing Alumni Association, at Oakdale Elementary School, 5001 25^th St., Tuscaloosa, at 3:30 p.m.

Led by Drs. Paige Johnson and Michele Montgomery, both UA assistant professors of nursing, the UA nursing students presented a two-part bike safety program to the children as part of a community health clinical class in which the UA students are enrolled.

The UA students are presenting two sessions each at Maxwell Elementary, Oakdale Elementary, and Brookwood Elementary.

Tuscaloosa’s One Place, a local family resource center, provides after-school programs in area elementary, middle and high-schools, in addition to other programs.

Students in the UA class also collect data to determine the children’s baseline knowledge of appropriate helmet use and prevalence of helmet use. Following their presentations, the UA students reassess to determine whether the program increased knowledge and helmet use.

Interview opportunities April 8 at the school include UA nursing students, children who received the helmets, Johnson and Montgomery, the UA nursing faculty members, and Teresa Costanzo, executive director of Tuscaloosa’s One Place.