The AAOS, along with its volunteer orthopaedic surgeons and industry partners, has been building safe, accessible playgrounds and donating them to each city that has hosted the AAOS Annual Meeting since 2000.

This year, the Academy’s 13th annual Safe, Accessible Playground Build, held on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012, will be gifted to the Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Center (Tel-Hi). This community center serves the culturally diverse, low- and moderate-income residents of the North Beach, Chinatown, and Fisherman’s Wharf neighborhoods of San Francisco. Once complete, the playground will contribute to Tel-Hi’s role as a community gathering place for the 600 people who come every day, providing many of the children with their only outdoor physical activity and play experiences.

Dozens of local children participated in Design Day (Nov. 15, 2011) at Tel-Hi to draw the playground of their dreams. Daniel J. Solomon, MD, spoke with them and their parents about the importance of playground safety and demonstrated how orthopaedic surgeons treat broken bones.

The 2012 Safe, Accessible Playground Build Day will help officially kick off the 2012 Annual Meeting in San Francisco. AAOS fellows and community volunteers will spend the day working and playing hard to complete the playground in just 6 hours (from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.).

Tel-Hi is approximately a 10-minute drive, or a 30-minute walk, from the Moscone Convention Center, site of the 2012 Annual Meeting. Shuttle buses transport volunteers from the convention center to the build site hourly from 8 a.m. through 1 p.m. on Build Day.

Volunteers donate whatever time they have available—whether it’s an hour, a half-day, or full day—to this rewarding project. To find out more, go to www.aaos.org/playground

Lauren Pearson is manager, media relations, in the AAOS public relations department. She can be reached at pearson@aaos.org

AAOS recognized for 2011 Playground Build
The Academy’s 2011 Family Fitness and Fun Park Build at Spring Valley Youth and East Communities Center (SVYECC) near San Diego was recognized with a platinum Generations Award, in the category of Special Events. The Generations Award is an international competition for excellence in senior marketing aimed at professionals who dedicate their outstanding talents to reaching the senior community. Past winners of this award include corporations, nonprofits, advertising agencies, and public relations firms across the nation.

On Feb. 15, 2011, nearly 600 volunteers from across the country arrived at SVYECC to transform an empty site into a brand new, 6,100-square-foot multigenerational-use and accessible Family Fitness and Fun Park, in just 7 hours.

The park changed the grounds into a community gathering spot designed to accommodate people of all ages and abilities, with two separate safe, accessible playgrounds—one designed for children ages 2 to 5 and another for children ages 5 through 12, a quarter-mile walking trail, and seven exercise stations that give visitors the opportunity to do weight-training and flexibility and balance exercises such as tai chi.

2012 Safe, Accessible Playground Build Sponsors