Presenter Profile
Marlene Melzer-Lange, MD
Professor of Pediatrics (Emergency Medicine)
Medical College of Wisconsin
PI Injury Free-Milwaukee
mmelzer@mcw.edu
instagram @Mmelzer4
Dr. Marlene Melzer-Lange is a pediatric emergency medicine physician at the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin who has had a long history of interest in pediatric injury prevention. She has focused on both intentional and unintentional injuries and has worked for many years with Project Ujima, one of the first hospital-based violence intervention programs. She believes that children deserve a healthy and Injury Free childhood. She enjoys the outdoors, is married, and has 2 children and 4 grandchildren.
Presentations
Injury Prevention Leadership in Youth E-Bike Harm Reduction
Marlene Melzer-Lange, MD
Phyllis Agran, MD, MPH, MA
Jamie Holland, MD
Romeo Ignacio, MD
Lorrie Lynn, MA, CPSTI
Time: 20 minutes Introduction & Rapid Rounds: Small Group Formation: 20 minutes Small Group Report Back & Discussion: 15 minutes with final Comments 5 minutes This 60 minute interactive workshop builds on the keynote presentation on the growing youth e-bike safety crisis by moving participants from awareness to practical action. Through facilitated small-group discussion, participants will examine how we as injury prevention leaders can respond to rising pediatric e-bike injuries through education, harm reduction, advocacy, and partnership development. In preparation for the workshop, participants will be asked to review their state’s e-bike and helmet laws using a designated state law resource website and complete a worksheet with preliminary information related to minimum rider age, helmet requirements, passenger restrictions, speed limits, licensing and registration, and permitted riding locations such as sidewalks, bike paths, and streets. During the workshop, participants will work in facilitated small groups organized by regions to discuss how they could identify specific actions in their own region from the clinic to the community to the state or local policy makers. Groups will then identify three priority concerns amendable to action. Examples may include lack of helmet use, unsafe passenger practices, excessive speeds, distracted riding, weak enforcement, limited parent awareness, or inadequate infrastructure. This could include trainings for pediatricians and other stakeholders related to public and parent awareness and social media campaigns. Participants will also identify potential partners needed to address these concerns, such as schools, law enforcement, trauma centers, public health departments, parent organizations, transportation planners, retailers, or youth-serving organizations. The workshop will include applied communication exercises focused on both advocacy and family engagement. Each group will prepare a brief “elevator speech” aimed at a local policymaker or community leader advocating for stronger youth e-bike safety measures. Finally, participants will identify at least one realistic action they could implement within the next three months and determine who they would partner with to advance that effort. The workshop will conclude with group report-outs and facilitated discussion to share key themes, innovative ideas, advocacy strategies, and opportunities for collaboration across communities and disciplines.
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
1. Describe their state and local e-bike laws related to youth riders, including helmet use, rider age, passenger restrictions, and riding locations.
2. Identify and prioritize three community harm-reduction strategies to address youth e-bike injuries and unsafe riding behaviors.
3. Develop communication strategies for counseling families and advocating with policymakers about youth e-bike safety, mindful of equity issues.
4. Identify key partners and stakeholders needed to advance clinic-, community-, and/or policy-level interventions.
5. Create one actionable next step to implement within the next three months.