Bethpage-Tribune_2000-09-29

              B e t h p - a ge
YOUR OFFICIAL HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER
VOL. 34 NO. 38 SEPTEMBER 29-OCTOBER 5, 2000 40 CENTS
Danger on Foot
At noon on the Sunday before
Labor Day, Sean Egan, 8, was
happily sailing down his
grandparents' driveway in Michigan
City, Inc., on his new $99 scooter. He
turned too sharply, skidded - and got
his right foot stuck under the
contraption's metal plate. "I fell over
and started screaming," he says. "It
hurt a lot." An X-ray at the local
hospital revealed two breaks on his
shinbone. Now Sean is spending
three months in a cast, hobbling
around on crutches. He says kids
should avoid "daredevily" tricks - not
that he was doing anything risky
himself. He's thinking of selling his
scooter but worries it might be tricky
to find a buyer. Too many kids on his
block already own one.
The next time some kid goes
tearing by you on the sidewalk, he'll
probably be on a scooter. Since
taking off in the United States last ;
spring, the six-pound foot-propelled
vehicles have become the must-have
toy. Americans are expected to
spend $200 million buying more than
2 million of them in 2000. But the
fold-up aluminum vehicles are not as
harmless as they look. The
Consumer Product Safety
Commission reports that scooter
injuries have nearly doubled each
month since May; in August alone,
4,000 injuries required emergency-room
visits. Twenty-nine percent of
these were fractures and
dislocations, most to the arm or
hand. The rest included lacerations
(28 percent), bruises and abrasions
(17 percent) and strains and sprains
(15 percent). So far no deaths have
been connected to scooters, but
experts are afraid that mortal injury
is only a matter of time. The CPSC
estimates that kids could have
prevented or reduced the severity of
63 percent of the 9,400 scooter-related
injuries so far this year with
protective gear. So don't leave home
without a helmet, sturdy shoes, wrist
guards and knee and elbow pads.
Helmets are the top priority.
Without them, kids - whose
disproportionately large heads and
small bodies make them more likely
to topple forward when they lose
their balance - can wind up with
brain injuries. Head traumas can
cause anything from mild speech
problems to severe cognitive
impairment and death. 'The brain
isn't something that can repair itself
once the damage is significant
enough," says Gary Smith, a member
of the American Academy of
Pediatrics committee on injury
prevention. About 29 percent of the
injuries so far this year were to the
head and face. Children can also
puncture their organs if they fall
forward on the handlebars.
Not surprisingly, given these
safety concerns, communities are
beginning to crack down on
scootermania. Many schools have
banned scooters from their
premises. The Milton, Wash., city
council last week passed an
ordinance requiring scooter users to
wear helmets. And while some
municipalities have banned
motorized scooters, it's still early in
the trend for any widespread
regulation. Some cities, like Chicago,
already have laws on the books
banning such foot-powered
conveyances on the street - which is
just as well, according to the experts.
Kids are obviously in much greater
danger in traffic or around parked
cars; scooters are so low to the
ground, drivers may have trouble
seeing them.
Besides kids, scooters have
plenty of champions. "I would much
rather see kjds playing safely with
equipment like this than sitting
LaSalle Student Winner
in Worldwide Contest
Everyone at La Salle Regional School is extremely proud of the
success of Kristine Calado, currently a fifth grader at the Bethpage
Campus. Kristine is one of nine children who were winners in a
worldwide essay-writing contest. Kristine wrote a beautiful essay
around the TV set," says pediatrician a b o u t the jubilee Year 2000 and its significance. She is the only
Howard Spivak, chief of the division
of general pediatrics and adolescent
medicine at New England Medical
Center. "Nobody's interested in
taking away fun activities'; the issue
is promoting safe behaviors."
Scooters provide some
cardiovascular exercise - though
pushing off with a food to ride a
scooter isn't as vigorous as pedaling
a bike. They're psychologically
healthy, too. "Any kind of
transportation, whether it's a bicycle,
a scooter or Rollerblades, enhances
the child's sense of freedom and
independence, and that's positive,"
says David Fassler, chair of the
American Psychiatric Association's
council on children, adolescents and
their families. Still, the CPSC
recommends close supervision for
kids under Q.
No matter what their age, some
kids are already trading their
scooters in for more advanced
models. The new scooters are a far
cry from the Depression-era models
made from wooden crates and old
wheels. Sharper Image, which
introduced the current scooter to the
United States, now sells models
such as the Xtreme ($129.95), with
shock absorbers, and the Xootr
street scooter ($389.95), with bikelike
handlebar brakes. Like the original
Razor scooter, these editions
officially zip along at 15 to 17 mph -
(Continued on page 10)
representative from the USA and will be going to Rome in October to
receive an award for her essay from Pope John Paul II.
Pictured are Dr. Victor Lana, Headmaster of La Salle; Donna
Calado, Kristine's mother; Kristine Calado, essay winner; Jose Calado,
Kristine's father; and Kristine Donnelly-Gill, Kristine's teacher from
last year who nominated her essay.
Wishing
You Peace.
La Shana
Tova!