Clinic promotes bike helmet use
Staff photo/Kathy McCarty
THAD LaVALLEE, a Massachusetts bicyclist injured in an accident in July, credits a bike helmet with preventing his injuries from being worse. Here, LaVallee is pictured at TAMC prior to his release, assisted with exercises by Tim Mousette, a physical therapist at the Presque Isle hospital.
PRESQUE ISLE — The Presque Isle Kiwanis Club recently distributed nearly 100 bicycle helmets to area youth in an effort to promote biking safety. The event was held at Wintergreen Arts Center on State Street Aug. 7.
“Members of the Kiwanis Club unanimously voted to purchase the bike helmets this year. We had done it in the past but that was several years ago. After the accident of my friend’s son (which took place earlier this year), I knew it was time to do it again,” said Penny McHatten, a Kiwanis member who spends many hours herself traversing Aroostook County on her bike.
McHatten said in her travels she’s been saddened to see so many youth improperly equipped for riding their bicycles.
“I have seen so many young people this summer riding around on their bikes, without helmets, and I just don’t get it. What’s wrong with wearing a helmet? So I asked one young man, who replied, “It just ain’t cool,’” said McHatten.
That conversation sparked an idea to find a way to ‘make it cool’ to wear a helmet. And thus the project at Wintergreen was born.
“So how did we make it cool? We made them (helmet recipients) own it by putting their own designs on it — make some kind of statement,” she said.
McHatten’s suggestion to Wendy Gilman-Zubrick, director of Wintergreen, was met with great enthusiasm.
“She jumped right on it. So off we went,” said McHatten.
“It was a fabulous idea. Penny approached Wintergreen staff for help organizing a sort of ‘decorating clinic.’ The idea was that if kids can personalize their helmet and make them ‘cool’ and really take ownership of them, then they might be more inclined to really wear them,” said Gilman-Zubrick.
“That’s the hope anyway — a hope driven home by a good friend of Penny’s who was in a bad accident this summer and was very lucky to walk away without more serious injuries,” Gilman-Zubrick said.
McHatten saw just how important a helmet is when her friend, Thad LaVallee, was involved in a bicycle-truck accident in July. LaVallee was hospitalized at The Aroostook Medical Center for about two weeks, where he was treated for several broken bones, bruises, cuts and a concussion. LaVallee credited the use of a helmet for preventing the injuries from being worse.
“Had I not been wearing a helmet, it could have been much worse,” said LeVallee, during a physical therapy session prior to his release. “I’ve had other mishaps over the years and broken bones, but when a truck hits you, you realize that could happen anywhere, even leaving your own driveway.”
LeVallee was looking forward to completing his PhD when he returned home to Massachusetts.
“I’m hoping to work something out to telecommute, since it’s an hour’s drive from my home to college. I won’t be able to drive myself for a while, due to my knee injury,” said LaVallee, who has nearly 100 wins in bicycle races in the U.S. and Europe, including the Maine Potato Blossom Festival bike race he won the morning of the accident. He was participating in a Mojo-sponsored time trial event when the accident took place on the Parsons Road in Washburn.
LeVallee said safety equipment should be made a priority when riding your bike.
“You’re traveling on a narrow metal frame on narrow wheels. There’s nothing between you and the road to really protect you. It’s important to wear things like knee and elbow pads, and especially a helmet,” said LaVallee.
“I’m grateful for everything everyone’s done for me, since I was so far from home,” said LaVallee.
He has since returned home. LeVallee recently posted on Facebook that his toddler son, Ellis, gave him a hug that lasted about a half hour, while his 4-year-old daughter, Aubrie, proceeded to cover all his boo-boos with her Hello Kitty bandages.
McHatten said the Kiwanis Club still has several helmets remaining, with hopes to distribute them in the near future.
“We had 175 helmets in a variety of colors and sizes. We used less than 100 for our program ‘Hip Helmet for Health’ at Wintergreen. We’ll be doing the same clinic at our Youth Day, which is slated for the end of August at the Forum,” said McHatten. “This is truly a cause I firmly believe in and hope we get the message out that helmets save lives. Thad’s proof of that.”
