More than 100,000 children have a new helmet thanks to TMA’s Hard Hats for Little Heads program.
The Texas Medical Association’s Hard Hats for Little Head program was created in 1994 to help reduce head injury among Texas children. Head injury, the most common cause of serious disability or death in bicycle crashes, can be reduced by as much as 85 percent with proper use of a helmet. TMA's Hard Hats for Little Heads encourages children and adults to wear a properly fitting helmet in all wheeled sports: bicycling, skateboarding, inline skating, and when riding a scooter.
With the growing concern over childhood obesity, doctors are taking action. TMA physicians encourage children and adults to get more active. Even 30 minutes to one hour of exercise every day can make a huge impact on a child’s health. Plus, kids who exercise do better in school. Hard Hats for Little Heads’ program promotes the benefits of exercise at outreach events.
Watch these videos to learn more about TMA’s Hard Hats program:
Hard Hats for Little Heads is made possible through a grant from the TMA Foundation thanks to top donors — Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, Prudential Financial, and an anonymous foundation — and gifts from physicians and their families.
How Physicians Can Get Involved
Physicians can get involved by sponsoring a helmet giveaway. It is a perfect way to protect children in your community from serious brain injury and to promote safe exercise. You can give the helmets away in any way you choose — in your office during appointments, at a health fair or other community event, or as part of a bike rodeo, or you can partner with a school or other community group to give helmets away.
A Hard Hats event cannot take place unless a physician is involved. These events help to showcase TMA’s commitment to improving the health of all Texans. Your role at a Hard Hats event includes one or more of these (remember to wear your white coat):
- Discuss the importance of wearing a helmet,
- Describe the benefits of exercise at every age and why it is so important,
- Demonstrate how to wear a helmet properly,
- Ensure each helmet given to a child is fit properly,
- Do a media interview, and
- Visit with community residents.
TMA offers step-by-step assistance to organize, promote, and execute a helmet giveaway. Plus, we provide all the materials and merchandise you need for a successful event. Get involved today.
Hard Hats in Action: Give Helmets in the Emergency Department
Summer may mean more children end up in the emergency department (ED) with a bike-related accident. While the Hard Hats program aims to avoid these accidents, some helmet sponsors give 
away helmets to children in their local ED — either to replace the helmet they broke or ensure they have a helmet.
Tarrant County Medical Society (CMS) Alliance and Foundation gave Cook Children’s Medical Center helmets for this purpose. Hard Hats Advisory Panel member David Donahue, MD, pediatric neurosurgeon in Fort Worth, has put the helmets to use.
He recalls an 11-year-old boy whose bike was bumped by a car, sending it into the curb and throwing the boy into the air. He landed on his head but his helmet took most of the impact. The boy was dazed, suffering minor abrasions and a concussion, but never lost consciousness. He went home with a new helmet after an overnight observation in the hospital.
In the past two years, 50 children who have come to Cook’s ED with injuries sustained from bicycles, skate boards, scooters, and roller blade accidents have received bike helmets. “Helmets do save lives and brains,” says Dr. Donahue.
How TMA Alliance Members and Medical Students Can Get Involved
The Hard Hats program is a great way for alliance members and medical students to reach out to their communities, while promoting good health. Health fairs, local schools, and other community events are great places to give away helmets. Or, you can create your own event.
TMA encourages you to include a physician in your event to give away helmets or make a safety presentation. Having a physician or a medical student present in his or her white coat makes a strong statement about medicine’s commitment to child safety. Hard Hats also has a video that features a physician if you can’t find one to be at your event.
TMA helps you organize, promote, and execute an event. Plus, we have free outreach materials and merchandise to make your event a success.
How to Find a Physician Sponsor
All Hard Hat events must have a TMA physician serve as an event sponsor. Physicians can educate parents and children about why wearing a helmet is critical and the benefits of adopting an active lifestyle. Here are some suggestions for finding a physician:
- Call your local county medical society to see if staff can recommend a physician to sponsor your event, or if the organization would be willing to partner with you.
- Call a local hospital to see if it will cosponsor an event with you or recommend a physician who might be interested.
- Contact a local physician who is a member of your organization or who attends the sponsoring school to see if he or she will sponsor and participate in your event.
- E-mail TMA's outreach coordinator for assistance in finding a local physician sponsor.
Events with no physician sponsor are required to show TMA’s Hard Hats DVD, which features Tom Coopwood, MD, an Austin trauma surgeon. Dr. Coopwood explains why wearing a helmet is important and demonstrates how to fit a helmet properly on a child.
Free Helmet Match
TMA provides free helmets for your event with a matching purchase, based on the number of helmets you purchase:
Helmets Purchased
|
Free Helmet Match
|
| |
|
25-49
|
Equal Match
|
| |
|
50-199
|
50
|
| |
|
200-499
|
100
|
| |
|
500-749
|
200
|
| |
|
750-999
|
300
|
| |
|
1,000-1,499
|
400
|
| |
|
| 1,500 or more |
500 |
The Texas Academy of Family Physicians (TAFP) offers its members a unique benefit. TAFP will cover the helmet cost — up to 50 helmets for any of its members who sponsors a helmet giveaway. With the free TMA match, TAFP members can get up to 100 helmets at no cost.
Good Value: Helmets purchased through TMA are offered at below-market prices, between $4 and $8 each, depending on the style selected. All helmets meet the Consumer Product Safety Commission requirements. And, your helmets are shipped directly from the manufacturer to you within 10 working days.
TMA offers two styles of helmets:
- The basic helmet, with its colored top and white foam bottom, requires pads for proper fit.
- The premium helmet, which may appeal more to the school-age rider because of its trendy style, offers a turn-ring fitting retention system for better fit. The premium helmet, available in red, features the TMA logo imprinted on the helmet.
For more information or to receive a Hard Hats event starter packet (including the grant agreement that must be signed for each event), contact TMA’s outreach coordinator or call (512) 370-1470. You also can sign up to receive TMA Giving Back, a monthly e-newsletter that keeps you up to date on TMA's outreach programs. To sign up, e-mail the outreach coordinator.
How to Plan a Hard Hats for Little Heads Event
TMA has all the tools you need to plan, organize, and implement a helmet giveaway. Plus, we have free educational materials to enhance your event.
- Event Checklist: Follow this handy checklist to ensure you cover all event logistics.
- Event Ideas: Learn creative ways to make your helmet giveaway event a success.
- Event Photography Tips: Use these tips to capture winning photos at your event.
- Helmet Sizing Chart: Ensure you order the correct helmet sizes for your audience and fit them correctly.
- Photo Release Form (English and Spanish): Taking photos at your event is important. TMA can use these in our publications or you can send them to the newspaper for follow-up coverage of your event. Use this form to get parents’ permission to photograph a child. Without this form, a photograph cannot be reprinted.
- Guidelines for Recognizing Program Donors: Use this guide to correctly credit Hard Hats program funders in news releases and other promotional materials.
- Media Coverage for Your Outreach Event (PDF): Alert the media to your event and help ensure they cover it.
- TMA Donor Recognition Poster (English and Spanish): Post at events to credit TMA for its free helmet contribution.
- Guidelines for Recognizing Texas Academy of Family Physicians: Created specifically for TAFP-physician sponsored events. Use this guide to ensure proper credit is given to all event sponsors.
- Event Survey: Complete and return this form to TMA after your event. We need your feedback to track the program’s success and to report to grant funders.
Promote your event with these materials customized to your giveaway:
Educate children and parents at your event on the importance of wearing a helmet and exercise with these materials:
Make your event more memorable with these items:
Order Forms
Media Relations Tools
Hard Hats Success
Check out 2011 Hard Hats success (PDF). If your area isn't represented, consider an event in 2012.
Thanks to our 2010 Event Sponsors: TMA's Hard Hats for Little Heads program gave away 17,792 helmets at 120 events across the state.
What Others are Saying: Read testimonials from event sponsors
Hard Hats for Little Heads News Room
TMA News
- Brain Injury Awareness Month Now in March - Action (Jan. 17, 2012)
- A Heads-Up Idea: Dr.Driver's Brainchild Saves Little Heads - Texas Medicine (December 2011)
- 100,000 Helmets and Counting - Action (July 5, 2011)
- TMA to Give Away More Than 2,000 Bicycle Helmets to Texas Children in April (April 1, 2011)
- Get Kids Moving; Give Away Bike Helmets (Action, March 1, 2011)
- Give a Bike — AND a Helmet, Physicians Say, to Ensure Safety (Dec. 2, 2010)
- Doctor Who Promotes Bike Helmet Use Was Saved By One (May 14, 2010)
Local Events Making the News
Related Links