This year’s theme focuses on recognizing and managing concussion, a cause of injury for many Canadian children.

June 4, 2018 – Parachute Safe Kids Week, held in communities across Canada from June 4 to 10, 2018, will focus on how parents and caregivers can prevent, recognize, and help manage concussions in children.

Now in its 22nd year, Safe Kids Weekis an annual public awareness campaign thataims to raise Canadians’ knowledge about how to prevent children from being injured.

The focus this year is concussion at home, at play and on the road. The campaign encourages parents and caregivers to help their children become leaders in safety, by teaching them how to stay active and safe. Parachute also wants everyone to support Safe Kids Week on social media by using the hashtag #KidsAndConcussion.

“It’s not just competitive athletes who suffer concussions,” says Steve Podborski, an Olympian who is Parachute’s President and CEO. “Any bump to the head or blow to the body could cause a concussion. If recognized early and managed properly, most children with concussion will heal relatively quickly and without lasting effects. We want to prevent the heartbreak of serious injury or fatality, so that kids can live healthy, active lives.” Watch a video of Steve Podborski here promoting Parachute Safe Kids Week 2018.

For more than two decades, Safe Kids Week hasbuilt awareness and has educated Canadian familieson how to keep their kids safe while being active and having fun.

Parachute Safe Kids Week events will be held in communities across Canada: more than 85 communities signed up in advance for the Safe Kids Week Resource Kit that supports local programs and activities related to brain-injury and concussion awareness.

A great resource for all parents, launched for Safe Kids Week, is the Concussion Guide for Parents and Caregivers, created by Parachute and based on the same best practices and knowledge that informs Parachute’s work on the Canadian Guideline for Concussion in Sport. “Our sport concussion protocols should expand to schools, clubs and homes across Canada,” Podborski says.

Another tool created and supported by Parachute is Concussion Ed, a free mobile concussion education app developed for youth, parents and educators, available in English and French. Find Concussion Ed in the Apple App Store as well as Google Play for Android devices. Concussion Ed is also available via a web-based version for Blackberry and Windows users.

For media requests, contact:
Kelley Teahen, Director, Communications & Marketing
media@parachutecanada.org
647-776-5128

About Parachute

Parachute is Canada’s national charity dedicated to reducing the devastating impact of preventable injuries. Injury is the No. 1 killer of Canadians aged 1 – 44, where one child dies every nine hours. The financial toll is staggering, with injury c osting the Canadian economy $27 billion a year. Through education and advocacy, Parachute is working to save lives and create a Canada free of serious injuries. For more information, visit us at parachute.ca and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

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