Hospital:
Children's Hospital & Medical Center
Location:
Omaha, Nebraska
Contact:
Ms. Celia Ferrel, 402-955-6955
Program Name:
Kohl's Keeps Kids Safe: Kruizin' with Kohl's Bike Safety Event
Program Summary:
Kohl's Keeps Kids Safe program, a partnership between Children's Hospital and Kohl's Department Stores, created Kruizin' with Kohl's, a bike safety event to raise awareness of how bike helmets can reduce the risk of head injury by 85 percent.
- More than 1,000 children and family members attend the event.
- More than 400 children are properly fitted with free bike helmets.
- Families are encouraged to bring their bikes to the event – and many do.
- The event is held in the Kohl's parking lot. This location is adjacent to an Omaha bike trail, so the setting allowed for family members to enjoy a bike ride along the trail during and after the event. Kruizin' with Kohl's Bike Safety event was also a local kickoff to National Bike Safety Month in May, and it coincided with National Safe Kids Week (April 26 to May 2).
- Kruizin' with Kohl's includes a free hot dog lunch and prize giveaways, including Kohl's gift certificates.
- Bike safety education stations, face painters and Wanda and Cosmo characters from the TV show Fairly Odd Parents make it a fun-filled day.
- In addition, Children's enlists the support of a local bike shop that provides bike technicians who can answer questions about bikes and who do mini tune-ups on the bikes brought by attendees.
- Kohl's Associates in Action members are invaluable as they teamed with Children's Hospital & Medical Center volunteers to help manage the event. Associates in Action represented 5 Kohl's Stores in the Omaha-area. Each store provided five Associates in Action members.
Success measurements of the overall program and its reach into your community:
Children's Hospital & Medical Center measures the success of our program by the number of attendees at events and also by the number of bike helmets we fit and donate to children.
In addition, we conduct an email survey to bike event attendees to gain feedback about Kruizin' with Kohl's. Key findings from the research included:
- 97% of respondents agreed that the event offered information that was a benefit to children and families in the community.
- 91% of respondents agreed that the bike safety exhibits were informative and helpful.
- 96% of respondents answered "yes" to the question: The subject of bike safety prompted our family to think about how we can keep ourselves safe when we ride our bikes.
- 89% of respondents are confident with their abilities to properly adjust their children's bike helmets.
- 87% of respondents agreed that "my child learned the importance of using a helmet correctly and consistently."
- 98% of respondents would recommend parents and children attend the Kruizin' with Kohl's bike safety event in the future.
Successful tactics for making our program known in our community:
- Purchasing $75,000 worth of paid media through placing ads on TV and radio, in the newspaper and on Web sites.
- All advertising (radio, TV, print and Web) drove consumers to the Children's Hospital & Medical Center Web site or the toll-free phone number where people registered for the event. Children's collected needed data and informed consumers that the event included free helmets and bike safety education.
- The Web site and toll-free number registration allowed Children's to obtain emails from attendees and Children's used those emails to conduct an email survey about the bike event.
