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ICC's Fleming-Parker receives bicycle helmet grant to benefit child care centers

          Children in Itawamba Community College’s Child Care centers will benefit from the care and concern of Associate Degree Nursing instructor Dr. Mary Ann Fleming-Parker of Tupelo.

            This summer, Fleming-Parker applied for and received a Prevention and Education grant through the Traumatic Brain Injury/Spinal Cord Injury Trust Fund, through which 75 bicycle helmets were provided for the child care participants at the college.

            ICC Associate Degree Nursing program director Dr. Dana Walker said that as part of their coursework, sophomore students in the Family Centered Nursing Care course develop and present health promotion teaching projects to children at the Child Development Centers at both the Fulton and Tupelo campuses.

            The students have been at the CDCs on both campuses most Tuesdays and Thursdays since Sept. 1 to assist with temperature checks and hand washing as students arrive and then present a variety of health promotion projects, Fleming-Parker said. They will continue through Nov. 3.

            Fleming-Parker’s students presented the helmets Tuesday to the children at the centers in simultaneous programs beginning at 7:15 a.m. with temperature checks, hand washing and sanitizing instruction and demonstrations. The two students at the Tupelo Campus and three students at the Fulton Campus also provided instruction about bicycle safety. They include Callie Craig of Houston, Nyeshia McGregory of Okolona, Tupelo Campus; and Haley Williams of Fulton, Whitney Hankins and Van Thomas, both of Tupelo, Fulton Campus.

            The project had a special meaning for Callie Craig, one of the students who was a presenter at the Tupelo Campus. Her cousin suffered a TBI from a bicycle accident, and she knows first-hand the importance of wearing a helmet. “The helmet safety project is special for me to perform because of the impact helmet safety has had on my family,” Craig said. “Growing up, my cousin and I were very close, almost like brother and sister. One day he was riding his bike on a gravel road and hit a rock that caused him to crash. He was thrown off his bike and hit his head on some rocks. He was then airlifted to Memphis, had tests done and ended up with just a scar on his head. At the time, I was scared, but I knew that from then on we would always wear helmets when we rode bikes.”

            Prevention and Education grants fund projects that increase awareness and acceptance of safety practices surrounding traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord injuries.

            The TBI/SCI Trust Fund was established in 1996 by the Mississippi Legislature to provide both direct services to individuals with TBI and SCI as well as sub-grants to organizations throughout the state to support programs that focus on the awareness and prevention of these conditions. It is administered through the Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services.

            “If our project encourages the participants in the child care centers to wear these helmets, we have made a significant difference,” Fleming-Parker said. “In the nursing field, saving lives is our business. These helmets can help us do just that.”



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