Free bike safety education provided at Gundersen Clinic in time for summer
Lylian Kussmaul, River Yager, Shelby Schroeder, Zachary Ross, Taia Dressler and Robert Groom were the lucky winners of free bicycles, donated by Prairie Industries, at the Gundersen Prairie du Chien Clinic bike safety event May 4. About 50 local children attended and everyone went home with a prize. (Submitted photo)
By Correne Martin
The Gundersen Prairie du Chien Clinic hosted a Healthy Living Program on bicycle safety Wednesday afternoon, May 4, from which local children took home knowledge about riding their bikes, prizes and, in the case of six participants, brand new bikes.
This year’s program featured Ashley Erickson, a Prairie du Chien police officer, who educated about 50 children ages 4-14 and their parents about using hand signals, wearing properly-fitting helmets, knowing the parts of a bicycle, understanding stop light rules, crosswalk safety, railroad safety and looking both ways before crossing the road, among other information.
Following Erickson’s presentation, the anxious bunch alleviated their energy by putting their knowledge and skills to work on a challenging bicycle course in the Gundersen parking lot. Each child was also correctly fitted with a new helmet.
Kids were also treated to popcorn, cotton candy, animal crackers and drinks.
According to Nancy Stuart, registered nurse at the Gundersen Prairie du Chien Clinic and coordinator of the bike safety event, helmets were provided by the Gundersen Health Foundation. Six lucky kids—three boys and three girls—were the winners of brand new bicycles, donated by Prairie Industries.
Prizes were given to all of the participants, thanks to sponsorship from Walmart, Pizza Hut, Culver’s Restaurant, Prairie Fun Land, Hardee’s, Dairy Queen, Subway/Papa Murphy’s, McDonald’s, Prairie Cinema and Prairie Industries.
“What was really neat was that every single child that came got a prize,” Stuart said. “Gundersen tries to do its healthy living program for the community. Age-wise, I just don’t want the kids to be forgotten. Gundersen does a great job putting kids’ safety first.”
The bike safety program has been offered in Prairie du Chien by the Gundersen Health Foundation since 2001. The free program is scheduled for the first half of May each year, at the local clinic, before summer starts and the kids are riding their bicycles more frequently.
