Helmet Safety
Helmet Safety Clinics
Meet Beary Careful and learn how to protect your young ones this winter at one of Munson’s free helmet safety clinics. The Chill Out Team will be slopeside at recreation areas throughout Northern Michigan to share information about choosing the right type of helmet and ensuring a proper fit. Stop by at any time during the clinic; a fitting will take just a few minutes.
Need a helmet? Free children's helmets will be provided, while supplies last.
2025 dates to be announced.
By the Numbers
Over 20,000 patients are treated in Emergency Rooms annually for sledding related injuries. Seventy percent of those are children under the age of nineteen and over 80 percent suffer injury to their head. Studies show that wearing a helmet prevents or reduces the severity of traumatic brain injury by 62-88 percent, depending on the activity.
Choosing a Helmet
Helmets are created and tested for specific activities, like snowmobiling and skiing. While no helmet exists specifically for sledding or ice skating, experts recommend that bike and ski helmets can often be used for sledding and ice skating. Visit Which Helmet for Which Activity? | CPSC.gov to ensure your child’s helmet meets crash testing standards.
Helmets should be replaced if involved in a crash, damaged, or outgrown. For this reason, it’s also best to avoid using previously owned helmets, if possible.
Tips for Encouraging Helmets
Model the behavior by wearing your own helmet. Wearing a helmet and practicing other key safety behaviors helps your kids learn to do the same. You can also point to other role models, such as professional athletes who are wearing their helmets.
Let your child choose and personalize their helmet. Kids may be more excited to wear their helmet if they are involved in choosing it or can add stickers or other decorations such as reflective lights to personalize it.
Establish safety rules in your home and stay consistent. This includes allowing activities like sledding, skiing or snowboarding only if wearing a helmet. Stay consistent and avoid occasional skipping to help reinforce the importance.
Establish the habit early. Children are more likely to wear their helmets into adulthood when they don’t remember any other way. These early experiences become lifelong habits. It’s never too late, however, to get your children into helmets.
Reinforce positive behaviors. This is especially when your child wears their helmet without being asked.
Support Chill Out for Winter Safety
Each year, Munson Healthcare experts visit schools and ski and sledding hills across the region to provide important winter safety and helmet education as well as helmet fittings and free helmets. The program provides over 500 free helmets and delivers education to over 2,500 local kids. Your donation helps purchase helmets and supplies to make this program a reality year after year.