TIBBLE FORK, Utah — Winter sports and outdoor activities are a great way to enjoy the beautiful snow we have here in Utah, but doing it safely is of paramount importance.
"I think people kind of look at sledding as child's play more than snowboarding or skiing, so I think people just need to be careful,” said Mckyliee Young.
In December 2022, Young was in a devastating accident while going down an icy hill.
"I had went down on a tube, and I had flipped backwards and then I hit a pole and ricocheted into another pole,” explained Young.
She had four surgeries in seven months and is still feeling the impacts of her injuries.
“I broke almost 40 bones, all of my ribs but three, fractured my back, a ton of different stuff, had a brain bleed," Young said. "I think my biggest injury that still impacts me quite a lot is my nerve roots were ripped out of my spinal cord, so my right hand doesn’t fully work on all the way."
She and experts from Intermountain Health want everyone to be safe while enjoying the snow.
"With sledding, there’s so much unpredictability with it,” said Kourtney Dinehart, an emergency room nurse and trauma services manager at Intermountain American Fork Hospital. “We're kind of just trying to bring awareness to that, that you can hit your head, run into people, crash, lot of different ways you can get hurt, so it’s just really important that we protect our brains because those are the injuries that are usually the worst.”
While people were sledding and tubing by Tibble Fork Reservoir, Intermountain Health gave out about 50 free helmets and shared ways to stay safe while outdoors.
Other recommendations are to make sure you have enough warm and protective clothing to help prevent injuries.
"Make sure that you know all of your surroundings, you have a plan for what you’re going to do, and you are with people that you trust and love and that you're really safe,” added Young.
