NEWS RELEASE
White Macgillivray Lester LLP and the Brain Injury Association of Thunder Bay and Area
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THUNDER BAY – On Tuesday, June 14 at 10:40 a.m, local injury lawyers from White Macgillivray Lester LLP and the Brain Injury Association of Thunder Bay and Area (BIATBA) will be at St. James Public School (243 St. James Street, Thunder Bay) where they will hand out free bicycle helmets to the entire student-body (180 students). Thunder Bay District Health Unit and Eco Superior will also be in attendance to provide information about bike safety.
This event is part of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association’s Helmets on Kids province-wide initiative which will help distribute more than 4,000 bicycle helmets to school-age children in cities and regions across Ontario.
Duncan Macgillivray is a founding partner and personal injury lawyer at White Macgillivray Lester LLP in Thunder Bay, Past-President of BIATBA and OTLA’s Treasurer and Helmets on Kids Coordinator for Thunder Bay.
“Head injuries are the number-one cause of serious injury and death to kids on bicycles,” said Macgillivray, “OTLA members are proud to dedicate their time and energy to raise awareness of how helmet use can help prevent the devastation caused by cycling accidents and we are proud to partner with other like-minded community organizations.”
OTLA’s Helmets on Kids Community Partnership was started by OTLA members in 2002. Since its first event, held in London, Ontario, this initiative has distributed more than 25,000 helmets to elementary school students. The program was brought to Thunder Bay by OTLA and BIATBA in 2012, and has given out over 1,700 free helmets. This will be the first Helmets on Kids event since the COVID19 pandemic.
The mandate of the campaign is to put a bike helmet on the head of every child who needs one, and provide education and awareness to school-aged children about bicycle helmet use. All helmets are purchased with funds donated by OTLA lawyers and their firms.
This year, Bike Helmets on Kids events will take place during May and June in Ottawa, Toronto, Aurora, Halton Region (Burlington), Peel Region, Barrie, Sarnia, Haliburton, Milton, Aurora, Sudbury, Windsor, Simcoe County (Midland), and Thunder Bay. Each event is also supported locally by community partners. In Thunder Bay, OTLA has a continued partnership with the Brain Injury Association of Thunder Bay and Area. The Brain Injury Association of Thunder Bay and Area (BIATBA) supports people living with acquired brain injury through education, public awareness, information and advocacy.
For the 2022 Helmets on Kids campaign in Thunder Bay, local OTLA lawyers from White Macgillivray Lester LLP have made significant financial donations to help purchase helmets for the Helmets on Kids campaign. All work on the campaign is done by OTLA members, BIATBA members and their partner organizations on a volunteer basis.
The Bike Helmets on Kids campaign has been recognized with awards from the Brain Injury Association of Canada (BIAC), the Ontario Brain Injury Association (OBIA) and the Ontario Safety League (OSL) for its contribution to promoting injury prevention awareness and safety education.
According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, cycling injuries are by far the most common injury from summer sports and recreational activity, accounting for half of all hospital admissions. Among the most severe cycling injury admissions of the past decade (those requiring admission to a special trauma centre), 78% of those hospitalized with a head injury were not wearing a helmet when their injury occurred.
