Keep children safe in California | image source: NPPS.org

Parents are frequently on the pursuit of keeping children safe, whether it is in the car, at home, or at school. And today, in light of National Playground Safety Week, there’s never been a better time for schools in our community to realize the importance of child safety. But amazingly, this California has opted out of the program.

Let’s spread the word – we want National Playground Safety Week!

Did you know each year approximately 15 children die from unsafe or hazardous playground equipment? Even more staggering is the fact that 200,000 children are treated for personal injury from unsafe playgrounds, according to the National Program for Playground Safety.

As a safety ambassador to the San Diego area, I encourage you to contact your schools and let them know you stand up for kid safety.

Tips for encouraging playground safety at your school

Talk to your child’s principal, and even offer a few days of volunteering throughout the year. Most importantly, ask your child’s principal to contact the city council and petition for participation in National Playground Safety Week. You may want to mention the following tips in the meantime since they go a long way for maintaining child safety.

Ask for more supervision during play time

Tell the school principal that you’d like to see more hallway monitors and recess attendants. Nothing can be more effective at maintaining a safe environment than more eyes watching your children. Also, children of different ages should have separate playing areas. Ages 2 to 5 should play in a different area than children between 5 and 12 since both groups have different playing styles and abilities.

Ask for improved surfaces

Playgrounds have come a long way since they used to be made from hard concrete surfaces. Now, playground materials are shock-absorbing and soft – a big improvement over rock-hard surfaces that can break bones, cause head injuries, and even cause catastrophic events like spinal cord injury or paralysis. Playgrounds should be covered at least 1 foot deep with soft materials like shredded rubber, rubberized asphalt, or wood chips. If your child’s playground is outfitted with grass and soil, these are still too hard to absorb shock if your child falls – ask for improved surfaces that are up-to-date and prevent injury.

Download the Playground Safety Checklist

Ask your child’s principal to walk around the school campus with you and the Playground Safety Checklist. This “safety report card” will bring to light any potential safety hazards including equipment with missing or broken parts, guardrail requirements, the posting of playground rules and much more. As you walk through the school with your child’s principal, using the “safety report card” can truly shine light on the importance of National Playground Safety Week.

When accidents happen, use a reliable, experienced source of help

Unfortunately, children are hurt on playgrounds every day. Most commonly, children experience serious injury from falls during climbing, swinging, overhead ladders, and slides. And of these accidents, 15 percent are considered severe or debilitating. When accidents like these happen, it’s important to talk to experienced legal counsel who can walk you through the process of recovery for your child’s serious injury including recovery for medical bills, pain and suffering, or a loss of quality of life. Call the Law Offices of Michael Pines at 1-800-655-6585 or contact us online if your child has been injured in a playground accident.

For more information on National Playground Safety Week

If you’d like to find out more about National Playground Safety Week, log onto http://www.playgroundsafety.org/ for tips on getting the program approved in our state. Let’s band together as San Diegans and bring National Playground Safety Week to California. It’s more important than ever to spare children from needless injury. Let’s do our part to avoid accidents and make a difference.

A Riverside County sheriff is finding hope as she takes her first steps just months after a debilitating car accident.

Sergeant Cody Webb of Riverside County found a spark of hope this week despite a Dec. ’09 accident that left her spinal cord crushed. Doctors had told Webb that she may never walk again.

With the aid of physical therapy and a walker, Webb takes her first steps despite her debilitating spinal cord injury.

“They say it’s a miracle,” Webb said.

Finding inspiration after car accident injury

Just after 9 am on Dec. 17, Webb crashed her Ford truck in icy conditions after changing lanes on Highway 97 in La Pine, Oregon. The truck, carrying an empty horse trailer, jackknifed and crashed head-on into another oncoming vehicle, severely injuring Webb in the process.

Webb’s children escaped the car accident with concussions and broken bones. They did not sustain serious injuries as a result of the accident, although it wasn’t immediately evident to Webb or police on the scene.

“That was the most helpless I’ve felt in my entire life,” Webb said. “When I couldn’t hear my son, I knew it was bad and my worst fears.”

Unfortunately, Webb suffered severe injuries including a crushed spinal cord and a shattered left hip. While doctors told her it may be impossible to walk again, Webb saw a glimmer of light when she was able to surprisingly move her body after just weeks of physical therapy.

A great attitude: the great healer

No one can deny the devastation a severe car accident injury can have on an individual and a family. A serious accident can turn a person’s world upside down, cutting to the very core of the individual’s physical and mental well-being.

Picking up the pieces after a tragic and debilitating car accident is one of the hardest challenges a person can face. But if an individual can overcome the physical and mental barriers of car accident injury, a great attitude can eventually emerge. When that happens, great things can happen.

In Webb’s case, her positive attitude push her physical abilities to a new level. Doctors and nurses called Webb the “cheerleader” of the hospital. She’d high-five the hospital staff and enthusiastically attend her physical therapy sessions with a sense of determination and positivity.

With a positive attitude and a willingness to celebrate the positive, Webb took her first promising steps this week – a huge milestone in her path of recovery.

Motorized sports come with the thrill of living on the edge, but that thrill can turn dangerous very quickly and in a very painful way.  Motorcycle accidents often leave riders with severe bodily harm, including spinal cord injuries, and don’t think that the professionals have a cornered the market on safety — they can get hurt, too.

Recently, Yoshimura Suzuki rider Blake Young sustained a severe spinal cord injury after crashing his bike at the Barber in Alabama test earlier this month, according to Sport Rider.  It appears as though Young, like many others in his field, has sustained a vertebral compression fracture. Read the rest of this entry »

“Because we’re flying high regardless of where we’re sitting down, we soaring like eagles to do our best to shoot toward our goals and dreams.”

These are the inspirational words of Trenell Walker, a Sherman, Texas man who was paralyzed in a football game 15 years ago and now wants to help others with spinal cord injuries, according to 12 News KXII TV. Read the rest of this entry »

She partakes in fitness activities nearly every day, is a mother of two, and oh, did we mentioned that she has been paraplegic from the waist down for close to four years?

There’s very little that Kristina Ripatti-Pearce doesn’t do.  Ripatti-Pearce is a former Los Angeles Police Department officer who is paralyzed but has just completed Race Across America, the longest transcontinental bike race in the United States, according to the Los Angeles Daily News. Read the rest of this entry »