Epilepsy Awareness Walk
Ride Safe and Reduce Epilepsy Risk
Story and photos by Mathis Parker
 
A group of participants in the third annual Epilepsy Awareness Walk on November 15 came upon an accident scene in Deep Run Park. A young girl, accompanied by her father and their dog, had fallen from her bicycle at the edge of the park trail. Scattered about her were a camera bag, a knapsack, her bike, and a safety helmet.
 
Kathy O’Hara, an MCV nurse participating in the awareness walk, checked out the little girl. Thanks to the safety helmet the girl had been wearing while riding her bike, a swollen ankle was the only injury she sustained.

According to Fernando Cordero, organizer of the Epilepsy Awareness Walk, the situation could have been much worse.
 
“Each year, 500,000 children between the ages of 5 and 14 go to the emergency room or doctor’s office due to bicycle injuries,” says Cordero, who heads up the Spanish and Program Office of the Epilepsy Foundation of Virginia (EFVA), “but only 15 to 30 percent of children nationwide wear protective helmets. Proper helmets can prevent up to 88 percent of serious head injuries that can lead to epilepsy.”
 
Data from a 1998 study revealed that of 44.3 million children under the age of 21 who bicycled in the U.S., nearly 1 percent visited the emergency room because of biking accidents, and 23,000 of those children required additional care after sustaining traumatic brain injury, often resulting in epilepsy.
 
Today, as more and more children skateboard, rollerblade, and ride bikes and scooters, it is likely that without protective measures being taken, head injury statistics will climb.
 
Cordero says the organization’s 10-year campaign, “Use a Helmet: Prevent Epilepsy,” focuses on raising awareness about epilepsy and the effectiveness of wearing protective headgear. Thanks to EFVA-sponsored programs, fourth graders and their families throughout Virginia are presented information on the correct use of helmets; brain injury prevention; and first aid techniques to be used in the event a seizure occurs.
 
While the awareness portion of the epilepsy walk continued, participants waved goodbye to the young girl as her father carried her piggy-back style to their car. They were heartened to know she would be all right — and that a serious head injury had been avoided.

For more information about epilepsy, first aid posters, or the helmet safety program, please visit www.efva.org or call Fernando Cordero at (804) 549-9875

Archives: September 2008