Riley Hospital Goes Racing for Safety

INDIANAPOLIS – Riley Hospital for Children is "Racing for Safety" with a new web-based bike safety program featuring Vision Racing Driver, Ed Carpenter, designed to help community safety advocates prevent and reduce injuries and deaths to children and teens as a result of riding bikes, scooters, skateboards and skates.

Development of the program was fueled by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from 1999-2006 showing that fatalities for Hoosier children riding wheeled devices, including bikes, were at their highest for children in the 10-14 and 15-19 age groups. Riley Hospital admissions data from 2001-2004 also indicated that bike injury admissions were highest for children ages 5-8 and 9-14.

"Racing for Safety gives us a precious window of time to reach kids early with information, education and an opportunity to practice skills to help launch them to a safe start in their riding career on whatever their wheels of choice," said Cara Fast, MSW, Riley Hospital Community Education and Child Advocacy.

Racing for Safety (www.racingforsafety.org) offers tools and resources needed to plan and present a bike safety course for children of all abilities. Featured videos on the website narrated by Carpenter provide a quick overview of key information needed to be conveyed at a Race for Safety course. Teens with requirements for community service or service learning and adult educators and community leaders will find Racing for Safety to be a ready-to-use resource to quickly activate a program to help children learn about and practice bike safety.

Carpenter, who finished 8th in the 2009 Indianapolis 500 and earned a 2nd place podium finish at the Kentucky Speedway Meijer Indy 300, is a strong advocate for bike safety. "Whether I'm racing on the track or on my bike, I always make certain my helmet is on and fitted securely for every ride. It's my hope that kids will learn to practice safety as a normal part of what they do no matter what kind of wheels they are riding," said Carpenter. In June 2009, Carpenter and his wife, Heather, welcomed a new baby, Ryder Carpenter, and Carpenter hopes that his work with Racing for Safety will also allow him to be a role model for his two children.

Riley Hospital's development of Racing for Safety was aided by several partners - Indiana University Department of Occupational Therapy at IUPUI, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Productions, ThinkFirst and the Indiana University School of Informatics at IUPUI.

"We're thrilled to see Racing for Safety up and running," said Dr. Janet Stout Everly, IU Department of Occupational Therapy, who led the team of graduate occupational therapy students that created the vision for the prototype website, built by an Informatics undergraduate student. Racing for Safety took nearly two years of development from prototype to finish. "At Riley Hospital, we are committed to helping kids of all ages and abilities grow in their abilities to advocate for the health and safety of other kids. Racing for Safety is one way we're helping to introduce kids to a lifetime of volunteering and service to others," said Dr. Karen Bruner Stroup, who directs Riley Community Education and Child Advocacy.

Since being launched in August 2009, the Racing for Safety website already is expanding. Production currently is underway for 3 more videos for the website that continue to feature Ed Carpenter over viewing additional key information and education on bike safety.

About Riley Hospital for Children As one of the nation's leading pediatric hospitals and Indiana's first and only comprehensive hospital dedicated exclusively to the care of children, Riley Hospital for Children, a part of Clarian Health, has provided compassionate care, support and comfort to children and their families for 85 years. Each year, Riley Hospital and Riley Hospital at Clarian North serve over 215,000 inpatients and outpatients from across Indiana, the nation and the world. Riley Hospital's partnership with Clarian Health, and its strong affiliation with the Indiana University School of Medicine, makes it the only comprehensive clinical resource for Indiana's children and the premiere source for health-related information for their parents. From simple care associated with the health and wellness of children and less complex specialty care to the most critically-ill and medically complex cases, Riley Hospital for Children is a national leader. Clarian Health operates the Methodist Hospital, Indiana University Hospital and Riley Hospital for Children campuses as a single hospital under Indiana law. Visit Riley Hospital for Children for more information.