At the end of this summer, PennDOT continued its successful working relationship with the trauma program at Penn Highlands DuBois, PA.
The partners held a bicycle helmet fitting program during Kids’ Day at the 162nd annual Clearfield County Fair on Tuesday, August 1.
A trio consisting of Safety Press Officer Tim Nebgen, Engineering Scientific and Technical Intern Sara Caldwell, and Trauma Program Manager for Penn Highlands DuBois, Holly Hertlein, fitted fairgoers with free bicycle helmets purchased through leftover funds from Penn Highlands’ community education budget.
In total, Penn Highlands supplied 170 helmets. The team arrived at the fairgrounds at 9:00 AM and exhausted its supply of helmets shortly after 11:00 AM. They also offered the kids a variety of safety themed coloring and activity books that included PennDOT’s ABC Coloring Book, School Bus Safety Activity Book, and Traffic Safety Activity Book. Penn Highlands supplied the crayons.
Holly’s daughter, Regan, pitched in by decorating some of the helmets with cat and puppy stickers when she was not otherwise occupied with sitting in the empty helmet boxes and decorating them with crayon art.
This is the second year the two entities have partnered at the Clearfield County Fair. PennDOT’s working relationship with Penn Highlands on traffic safety outreach and education started in 2018 when they first partnered on a media event drawing attention to the dangers of impaired driving during the St. Patrick’s Day Impaired Driving Enforcement campaign.
That event also featured PennDOT and Penn Highlands staff offering patients and hospital employees the opportunity to operate the impaired driving simulator to illustrate the dangers of impaired driving.
Additionally, PennDOT has partnered with Penn Highlands during the Pedestrian Enforcement Wave and at National Night Out in Clearfield Borough in 2022 and 2023.