For A.M. Release: November 3, 2000 For more information, contact: Joanne Swanson (847) 384-4035,[email protected]
Children to help design playground of their dreams
SAN MATEO, Calif.--Nearly 100 Bay Area children with crayons, paper and markers will spend Friday morning, November 3, designing the playground of their dreams.
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons will build a safe, wheelchair-accessible playground at Coyote Point, San Mateo, Calif., as a public service and is holding Playground Design Day in advance to get children's input on what playground features are most important to them.
The playground will offer important safety features and accessibility so children with and without disabilities can play together. Orthopaedic surgeons are the doctors who surgically treat children's physical disabilities, and see first-hand the fractures, dislocations and other results of playground injuries.
Building safe, accessible playgrounds is part of the Academy's ongoing campaign, Prevent Injuries America!, aimed at reducing musculoskeletal injuries -- including the 500,000 playground-related injuries treated each year in the U.S. For more information on how to prevent playground injuries, visit www.aaos.org.
Coalition partners in the Coyote Point playground project are the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, United Cerebral Palsy, San Mateo County Department of Parks and Recreation, and KaBOOM!, www.kaboom.org, a national nonprofit organization that teams individuals and organizations with businesses to build safe playgrounds.
The new Coyote Point playground will be built by orthopaedic surgeons, their families, community volunteers, Academy staff and orthopaedic industry representatives on Feb. 27, 2001, the day before the Academy's annual meeting begins in San Francisco. The world's largest educational meeting of orthopaedic surgeons will be held February 28 through March 4 at the Moscone Convention Center, San Francisco.
The 24,500-member American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons is a not-for-profit organization that provides education programs for orthopaedic surgeons, allied health professionals and the public.
The Academy is committed to building a similar playground each year in the city where it holds its annual meeting. Earlier this year, the Academy built a safe, accessible playground for students at the Magnolia School in Orlando, Fla. Many of the school's students have physical and mental disabilities.
An advocate for improved patient care, the Academy is participating in the Bone and Joint Decade (www.bonejointdecade.org), the global initiative in the years 2000-2010 to raise awareness of musculoskeletal health, stimulate research and improve people's quality of life.
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