Local physicians took advantage of the Texas Medical Association’s Hard Hats for Little Heads helmet-giveaway program to ensure hundreds of kids have a safe return to school.
Hard Hats is TMA’s longest-running outreach program through which Texas physicians have distributed more than 424,000 helmets since 1994. A properly fitting helmet can prevent almost all head injuries – up to 85%, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At one of those events in San Angelo, a mother told local pediatrician Josiah Ward, DO, one of her children recently fractured his skull in a go-kart accident because he did not have a helmet on.
“The mom was very happy and excited that he and his sister were receiving helmets to help protect them from future head injuries,” said Dr. Ward, president of Concho Valley County Medical Society (CMS).
In one event, the society gave out approximately 150 helmets.
“We want to promote outdoor activities and exercise. This is one way to help get kids moving outside on their bike or their roller skates and do it safely,” said Stuart Abramson, MD, an allergist, immunologist and pediatrician in San Angelo. The immediate past president of the Concho Valley CMS has hosted the helmet giveaway program for eight years.
Fort Bend, Galveston, and Grayson county medical societies also held Hard Hats events in August, making sure children can ride their bikes safely to school.
Children received 120 helmets at a back-to-school event hosted in Missouri City, marking one way to give back to the community pediatrician Shereen Alikhan, MD, grew up in.
“As you go through life, it’s always nice to come back full circle and be able to give back to the community that gave you so much,” the president of the Fort Bend CMS said.
Any county medical society or TMA member can utilize Hard Hats for Little Heads to distribute helmets to children in their communities. TMA boosts your giving power with a match of helmets (equal match up to 50). Helmets cost $12 each, including shipping. TMA also has free educational and promotional materials in English and Spanish to support your event. The Hard Hats program is available to all TMA Family members – physicians, medical student chapters, and TMA Alliance chapters.
TMA Foundation is able to fund the association’s Hard Hats for Little Heads program in 2025 with major support from an anonymous TMA/TMA Alliance member donor couple’s matching grant, as well as Lee Ann Pearse, MD, the McCallum Family Foundation, the Texas Neurological Society, and gifts from physicians and their families.