July 25, 2012 - You may have noticed new some additions near your child’s school this school year. The Eastern Carolina Injury Prevention Program (ECIPP) of Vidant Medical Center has been working with the City of Greenville, the Greenville Police Department and the Pitt County Health Department’s Communities Putting Prevention To Work (CPPW)’s Take Step Two grant to coordinate installation of speedboards and bike racks at schools throughout Pitt County.
“We identified the schools to receive modifications through speed studies and recommendations from the City of Greenville and the Greenville Police Department,” says Ellen Walston, Injury Prevention Program Coordinator.
Lakeforest Elementary School, J.H. Rose High School, and Wahl-Coates Elementary School received speedboards through funding from Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW)’s Take Step Two grant.
“The purpose of the speedboard modifications is to alert drivers of the school zone in hopes of slowing down traffic,” said Walston. “This will make walking and biking to school safer for our students,” says Walston. “Final speed study results are not yet available; however, preliminary results show drivers are slowing down to a safer speed when passing through the school zones.”
Bike racks were installed at seven schools, including Wahl-Coates Elementary, A.G. Cox Middle, J.H. Rose High, H.B. Sugg Elementary, Sam D. Bundy Elementary, Farmville Middle, and Farmville High. Funding for the bike racks also came from a portion of Take Step Two’s funds.
Take Step Two is a community based initiative that supports physical activity and nutrition in an effort to tackle the issue of obesity. Many initiatives, including those encouraging safer walking and biking to school have been developed to promote physical activity among children and families. Pitt County Schools, Vidant Health, Safe Kids Pitt County, and Safe Communities of Eastern Carolina, INC. have collaborated with these schools to support these Safe Routes to School initiatives.
The Eastern Carolina Injury Prevention Program (ECIPP) is a joint effort of Vidant Medical Center and the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. The mission of ECIPP is to decrease the incidence and severity of injuries to the people of eastern North Carolina. ECIPP accomplishes this mission by coordinating, facilitating, and implementing prevention projects aimed at young children and their families.
