August 31, 2006 Source: :
http://www.news.utoronto.ca/bin6/060831-2530.asp U of T students ride across Canada to promote safe cycling Med students aim to prevent brain and spinal cord injuries
Aug 31/06
by W.D. Lighthall Four medical students from the University of Toronto used pedal power to save lives this summer. Alun Ackery, Peter Ceponis, Marieke Gardner and Scott Smith, all third-year students in U of T’s Faculty of Medicine, spent a month riding their bikes across Canada to raise awareness about the importance of wearing helmets to prevent injuries when cycling, inline skating and skateboarding. The students’ cycling trip was dubbed the ThinkFirst Heads Across Canada Tour, a reference to trip organizer the ThinkFirst Foundation of Canada, which works to prevent brain and spinal cord injury in children and youth through education and public policy. The four medical students started in Vancouver May 30, rode more than 5,500 kilometres each and finished in St. John’s, Nfld., July 26. In addition to spreading the message that bike helmets prevent or reduce head and brain injuries in 85 per cent of cycling accidents, the tour raised approximately $50,000 towards injury prevention and education programs. "We started off by dipping our tires into the waters of the Pacific and ended up by dipping our tires into the Atlantic," said cyclist Alun Ackery, who did his master’s degree in research on spinal cord injuries before entering medical school. Ackery said one of the tour’s goals was to convince parents as well as children about the importance of wearing helmets for cycling and other sports. "You still see parents with no helmets on riding beside their kids who have helmets on. We wanted to get the message out that everybody should be wearing helmets in all wheeled activities, whether its rollerblading, mountain biking or road biking," he said. ThinkFirst reports that nearly 100 people in Canada die each year from bicycle falls and accidents, the majority children under the age of 15, and that brain and spinal cord injuries are the leading cause of death for those under the age of 24. "In my view, they have saved lives and prevented disability by this awareness campaign," said Professor Charles Tator of neurosurgery at U of T and a founding member of the ThinkFirst Foundation of Canada. "Helmets do save lives and do prevent injury damage and not enough people in our country are wearing helmets," said Tator, a neurosurgeon at Toronto Western Hospital. "Wherever these four cyclists went they spoke to people about the importance of wearing a helmet and this is a terrific thing to devote your summer to." Along the way, the four cyclists held press conferences, attended community events, visited local schools and garnered newspaper and other media attention for their cause. Cyclist Marieke Gardner said something that struck her during the tour was the attention it received in the smaller cities and towns. "We got to talk to a lot of people at the community level and tell them what we were doing and why," she said. "So I felt we got to spread the message from person to person and to me that was just as important as raising the money." Ackery said when the students brought their idea for an injury-prevention cycling tour across Canada to Tator, he got ThinkFirst involved and the organization was able to generate corporate sponsorship from Rent-A-Wreck (tour support van) and Days Inn (hotel accommodations) among others. As well, the Ottawa-to-St. John’s leg of the tour was sponsored by Canadian home, car and business insurers, who donated $20,000 to the tour as part of a national injury-prevention program called Be Smart. Be Safe. "The whole thing snowballed far beyond what we envisioned and turned into something much bigger, which was great," Ackery said. "Although the money we raised was not insignificant, the most positive thing we got out of this trip was the awareness and the publicity generated." To learn more about the cyclists’ tour, or to make a donation to the tour’s fundraising efforts, visit www.headsacrosscanada.com.
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