East Holmes School District partners with Pomerene Hospital for bike safety program
As Holmes County Deputy Sheriff Sgt. Joe Mullet said to the assembled fifth- through eighth-grade Amish students gathered at Chestnut Ridge Elementary School recently, you can be doing everything right while riding your bike on the road, but a car driver could be doing something wrong, and it is the cyclist who is going to pay the most severely.
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Mullet warned students during a bike safety day assembly at Chestnut Ridge to be careful while riding and be aware of their surroundings. Other speakers included Pomerene Hospital nurse and East Holmes School Board President Julia Klink and Sgt. Brian Bernhart from the K-9 Unit and his dog Diego.
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The East Holmes Fire District also brought in a fire truck and squad for the children to see, but within minutes of the start of the assembly, the squad was called out for an actual emergency.
Reinforcing safety habits
The overall goal of the program was to reinforce safety habits, and to make sure the kids wear bike helmets, said Chestnut Ridge Principal J.T. Luneborg.
"We wanted to have this bike assembly simply to reinforce the rules with all the bikes on the road; to let the children know that they pretty much follow the same rules as cars, and they need to understand the different guidelines to be safe," Luneborg said. "Our School Board President Julia Klink, who is a nurse at Pomerene Hospital, talked about brain injuries so kids would understand the severity of not following rules and different things that can happen."
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The principal added that the kids benefited from having Klink on the school board.
Bike helmets for Amish students
"Pomerene Hospital donated a bike helmet to each of the kids at the assembly, which was I think more than 200 helmets," Luneborg said. "It was a really good assembly. We had all fifth- through eighth-grade students from Wise, Chestnut Ridge and Mount Hope; all our Amish kids.
"Julia Klink did an excellent job putting this program together for us," the principal continued. "(The Valley Schools Principal) Casey Travis and I approached her about doing an assembly because she had done them in the past at some of the Amish schools in the area. She spearheaded the donation of the helmets and line up the speakers."
Klink explained Pomerene Hospital partnered with Hiland Bikes and E-bikes of Holmes County to purchase approximately 206 bike helmets for all the children in attendance. The helmets were purchased at cost. The bicycle shops also provided prizes (bike mirrors, headlights and reflectors) for the coloring contest held for the students.
Pomerene Hospital's mission of caring
She noted that this program goes along with Pomerene Hospital's mission of caring for the community's health.
"This is just another way we can help fulfill that mission," Klink said. "Every Amish child in grades five through eight at Wise, Chestnut Ridge and Mount Hope got a helmet. The students were measured ahead of time, so they were able to get properly fitted helmets. We really appreciate the partnership there."
Klink added that she and Mullet spoke about head injury prevention and brain trauma.
"Last fall, Joe and I had done the same type of programs with some local Amish churches in the Winesburg area, so we were excited to do it," she said.
East Holmes Superintendent Erik Beun thanked and commended the efforts of Klink, the Holmes County Sheriff's Office and the participating schools for putting together the successful program together.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Amish students get bike helmets courtesy of Pomerene Hospital
