Ready, set slide. The 500 children at C.E. Rose Elementary School are buzzing about the new playground that appeared over the weekend. On Saturday, March 5th over 300 volunteers joined together to build a playground at the school, located at 710 W. Michigan. This community effort of parents, teachers, doctors, nurses, and administrators, with the help of the national non-profit KaBOOM!, was the result of months of planning and fundraising. On Saturday, the handicapped accessible playground plus 15 picnic tables were assembled and thirty trees were planted, all in about seven hours. Then the playground was wrapped in snow fencing for safety until the concrete footings dry. It will officially open for sliding, climbing and fun on Tuesday, March 8th at 11:30 AM, when the kids will get their first chance to try out the new equipment.

With the help of Tucson Medical Center Foundation and other health care and community volunteers, Tucson Orthopaedic Institute has raised $60,000 for the project. The school has contributed $5,000 from tax credit funds. The local project is a direct result of a national initiative of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS). The AAOS campaign, Prevent Injuries America!®, is aimed at reducing musculoskeletal injuries. In 2003, there were 465,000 playground-related injuries treated in the U.S.

Building this play space for the C.E. Rose community reflects Tucson Orthopaedic Institute’s commitment to the importance of play and exercise in building healthy bones and healthy people. The Institute’s physicians are concerned not only about broken bones resulting from playground accidents, but also about those children who do not have the benefit of healthy play. They see many adults who now suffer from bone and joint disease because they did not establish exercise as part of their lifestyle in their formative years.

The local KaBOOM! Project started on Playground Design Day, Dec. 9, when C.E. Rose students, parents and teachers participated in exercises designed by the KaBOOM! staff to determine what equipment and colors the children would most like. They also discussed rules for the playground. The school, which is part of Tucson Unified School District, serves approximately 500 children in grades K-5. It has been serving the community since 1948. C.E. Rose Elementary was recognized as one of the five top Reading First schools in the State of Arizona in the 2003-2004 school year.