Archived Story

Safety first: Business brisk at St. Patrick Hospital's helmets-at-cost event
By BILL SCHWANKE of the Missoulian

Simon Mitchell, 3, has a lot of help getting fitted for his new bike helmet Wednesday morning at St. Patrick Hospital. Ron Wachtman, left, and Michelle Schaefer with St. Pat's Injury Prevention Program and Simon's mother, Beth Antonopulos, right, lend a hand in making sure the helmet fits properly. The program sells helmets at cost, usually on the third Wednesday of every month.
Photo by MICHAEL GALLACHER/Missoulian
There's really no excuse for not wearing a helmet when you're riding a bike or a horse, or if you're a skateboarder.

Thanks to the St. Patrick Hospital Injury Prevention Program, helmets are available at cost once a month for all of these activities.

And if someone absolutely can't afford to buy a helmet, the program will donate them in special situations, according to Michelle Schaefer, St. Pat's trauma registrar who has been overseeing the helmet program since last June.

“We just want people safe,” Schaefer explained, adding that her program has donated helmets to other safety-oriented programs throughout the community in the past.

Schaefer thought traffic would be brisk on the hospital's fifth floor Wednesday because of the onset of spring. By around 10:30 a.m., they already had gone through about 50 helmets.

Last month, which Schaefer figured would be relatively slow, more than 100 helmets were distributed.

“We try to have at least 48 helmets in each size,” Schaefer said, noting that those who had already shown up Wednesday included a 2-year-old and an 80-year-old who bicycle together.

She said it was the first time the 80-year-old had worn a helmet.

“You're smarter now,” Schaefer told the man.

“No, I got yelled at,” the man responded.

Schaefer said the hospital gets most of the helmets through a nonprofit company called Helmets R Us in Florida. The equestrian helmets come from Troxel Performance Headgear in San Diego.

Costs through the injury-prevention program include $6 for bike helmets, $9 for multisport helmets and $16 for ski helmets, which are still available even though it's near the end of the season.

Schaefer estimated the St. Pat's helmet program has been in place for about 10 years and has increased in frequency. She hopes to make this the first year that it will happen every month.

“People are excited to get these helmets at cost,” she said. “This program is far more than what I thought it would be when I got involved.”

The helmet sale usually takes place at St. Pat's on the third Wednesday of each month. However, the April sale will take place at the Mountain Line bus transfer station downtown in conjunction with Missoula's annual Bike Walk Bus Week.

Schaefer said the May sale will take place at Wal-Mart in conjunction with the annual Safe Kids Safe Communities Safety Day.

Missoulian reporter Bill Schwanke can be reached at 523-0493 or at bschwanke@missoulian.com.
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