South of Scotland MSP Emma Harper visited Compass Brain Injury Specialists Ltd in Dumfries today (Monday 27 November) as part of the ongoing #HingYerHelmet campaign which encourages farmers to wear a helmet whilst riding their quad bikes.
The campaign aims to reduce preventable head injuries by reminding farmers and other agricultural workers to always wear a helmet when riding quad bikes.
The visit, which was set up by Emma so that she and Andrew could meet and speak with persons who attend the centre as part of their ongoing care and rehabilitation.
Owen Fielding, manager of Compass Brain Injury Specialists (CBIS), created the survey which is designed to gather information about general awareness of safety when riding quad bikes and the benefits of wearing a helmet when out on open fields or roads.
Emma said: “This is an important issue in my South Scotland Region where many agricultural workers use quad bikes on a daily basis. A head injury doesn’t need to be life threatening to be life changing and this survey is designed to raise awareness while gathering information from the people potentially at risk.”
The work undertaken at CBIS is extremely important. Different approaches are used to support rehabilitation and enable persons to achieve improved outcomes following life changing events.
Owen said: “An acquired brain injury can be devastating and it is important that people do whatever they can to protect themselves. By completing the survey, we will be able to gather the information we need to help reduce the number of head injuries sustained by quad bike riders.”
The survey is on social media and can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/QZKNH79 and has 8 short questions which can be completed in less than 5 minutes.
