| Course | D595 Public Health Capstone |
|---|---|
| Task | Task 1 |
| Paper type | Community presentation with prepared responses |
| Length | About 1,100 words, 4 pages |
| Format | APA 7 |
| School | Western Governors University (WGU) |
| Program | BS Public Health |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for D595 Task 1
Faster, Heavier and Younger: A Community Forum Presentation on Teen E-Bike Injuries in a Composite County, With Prepared Answers to the Questions Residents Will Ask
Student Name
Leavitt School of Health, Western Governors University
D595: Public Health Capstone, Task 1
Course Instructor
Month Day, Year
Faster, Heavier and Younger: A Community Forum Presentation on Teen E-Bike Injuries in a Composite County, With Prepared Answers to the Questions Residents Will Ask
Purpose and Audience
Fairview County is a composite suburban county of about 180,000 people. In two years, emergency visits for e-bike injuries among residents aged 12 to 17 rose from 14 to 46, and two teenagers were admitted with serious head injuries. The county health department is holding a community forum in a high school auditorium. The audience will include parents, teenagers, school leaders, bike shop owners, police and elected officials. What follows is the presentation, written to be spoken in about 15 minutes, and prepared answers to the questions residents are most likely to ask. The capstone draws on epidemiology, program planning, policy and communication from across the public health degree.
Presentation Part 1: What Is Happening
Good evening, and thank you for coming. I work for the county health department, and I am here because we are seeing more of your children in our emergency departments after e-bike crashes. Two years ago, our hospitals treated 14 teenagers for e-bike injuries. Last year it was 46. Two of them spent days in intensive care with head injuries.
We are not alone. National injury surveillance data show that estimated e-bike injuries treated in U.S. emergency departments rose from about 2,200 in 2019 to about 23,700 in 2022; about one in ten patients was hospitalized, and for riders of middle and high school age, the head was the most commonly injured body part (Locke et al., 2025). In California, e-bike crash injuries in the state's traffic records went from 2 in 2018 to 1,566 in 2024, and compared with traditional cyclists, e-bike riders were more often 14 or younger and more often had moderate to severe injuries (Austin et al., 2026).
Presentation Part 2: Why It Is Happening
E-bikes are wonderful for getting around, and many of our teenagers use them to reach school, jobs and friends. The problem is not the bikes themselves. Three things make e-bike crashes more serious. They go faster, often 20 to 28 miles per hour, and some models can be modified to go faster still. They are heavier than regular bikes. And many young riders have not learned to handle that speed in traffic. In the California data, e-bike crashes involved more unsafe speed and improper turning violations than bicycle crashes (Austin et al., 2026). Helmets help: across studies of injured cyclists, helmet use was associated with about half the odds of head injury and about two-thirds lower odds of serious head injury (Olivier & Creighton, 2017). But in our school survey, fewer than half of teen e-bike riders said they always wear one.
Presentation Part 3: What We Propose Together
We are proposing a plan with four parts. First, with the school district, a one-hour e-bike safety course for any student who wants to park an e-bike at school, covering speed, braking, traffic and helmet fit. Second, with our bike shops, a promise to show every family buying an e-bike the safety basics and to offer a discounted helmet. Third, with police, a focus on education over tickets for teens, with warnings for speed and a program to identify bikes modified beyond legal limits. Fourth, with the county board, lower speed limits for motorized bikes on shared trails and a review of our helmet rules for riders under 18. We will measure whether this works by counting emergency visits, observing helmet use at schools and surveying students next spring. We need your help, and we would like to hear your questions.
Prepared Responses to Likely Questions
A parent asks: "Why not just ban e-bikes for kids?" Response: "I understand that feeling, especially after a child gets hurt. Bans are hard to enforce and would take away a way many teens get to school and work. The evidence points first to training, helmets and speed control, which reduce injuries while keeping the benefits. If those steps do not work, the county board can consider stronger rules, and we will share the data with you either way."
Another parent asks: "Isn't this the parents' job?" Response: "Parents are the most important part of this plan. But no family can control traffic, trail speed limits or what a store tells buyers. That is why we are asking schools, shops and police to share the job with you."
A teenager asks: "I need my e-bike to get to my job. Are you going to take it away?" Response: "No. We want you to keep riding and to get to work safely. The safety course and a helmet that fits are the two things most likely to protect you."
A bike shop owner asks: "Some of these are not really e-bikes, are they?" Response: "You are right. Some vehicles sold as e-bikes are closer to electric motorcycles, with throttles and speeds beyond legal bicycle limits. We need your help identifying them, and police will focus on modified or mislabeled vehicles."
A resident asks: "Will police be ticketing kids?" Response: "For teens, the first step will be warnings and education. The goal is safer riding, not fines."
A parent asks: "Who pays for helmets?" Response: "Shops will offer discounts, and the health department will give free fitted helmets to families who cannot afford them, funded by our hospitals' community programs."
A resident asks: "What about drivers who hit kids?" Response: "That matters too. About three in ten e-bike injuries nationally involve a motor vehicle (Locke et al., 2025), so our plan includes messages to drivers and trail speed limits that reduce conflicts."
An official asks: "How will we know if this is working?" Response: "We will report emergency visits for e-bike injuries every six months, observe helmet use at schools each semester and survey students each spring, and we will share those results at a forum like this one next year."
Reflection on Professional Communication
Preparing for this forum meant planning for listening as much as for speaking. The presentation avoids jargon, uses numbers only where they help people picture the problem and makes clear that the department sees e-bikes as a benefit to be made safer, not a threat to be removed. The answers acknowledge feelings first, correct misunderstandings without embarrassing anyone and return each question to a concrete part of the plan. Where the evidence does not yet support a step, such as a ban, the answer says so honestly and promises to revisit it with data. That approach reflects what the degree teaches about public health communication: trust is built by being accurate, respectful and willing to report back.
References
Austin, J., Perkins, L., Haines, L. N., Kobayashi, L., Berndtson, A. E., Weaver, J. L., Santorelli, J., Maa, J., Ignacio, R. C., Burruss, S., Liepert, A. E., Costantini, T. W., & Doucet, J. J. (2026). An exponential increase in e-bike injuries in California. Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open, 11(3), e002099. https://doi.org/10.1136/tsaco-2025-002099
Locke, A. R., Koehne, N. H., Ramey, M. D., Corvi, J. J., Alley, A. A., Yendluri, A., Song, J., Namiri, N. K., Enabulele, O., Waterman, B. R., Li, X., & Parisien, R. L. (2025). The rise in electric biking (E-bike) injuries: A 10-year age and sex-specific analysis of national injury data. The Physician and Sportsmedicine, 53(5), 345-352. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913847.2025.2470104
Olivier, J., & Creighton, P. (2017). Bicycle injuries and helmet use: A systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Epidemiology, 46(1), 278-292. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyw153
What the D595 Task 1 instructions ask
The first D595 task asks you to prepare a presentation for a community audience and responses to likely questions. You will usually describe the issue, purpose and audience, write the presentation, anticipate questions and prepare answers, and reflect on professional communication. The issue should connect to your capstone. Graders want language suited to a general audience, data used sparingly and explained, a clear proposal, respectful answers to difficult questions and reflection on communication choices. A presentation written like a research paper, full of jargon and statistics, will not satisfy the communication aspects. Imagine the room: parents, teenagers, police and business owners, each with a different concern. Plan answers for the hardest questions first.
How this D595 Task 1 example is built
The paper opens with the county, the injury numbers and the forum's audience. The presentation is written as spoken words, beginning with thanks and a plain statement of why the speaker is there. Part one uses a few numbers and a story. Part two explains causes without blaming teenagers. Part three describes four proposals with partners. Prepared responses follow, each opening with the question as a resident might ask it and answering with empathy and evidence, including why a ban is not recommended. The reflection explains choices such as avoiding jargon and planning to listen, and notes what the speaker would change after the forum. The tone stays warm and respectful throughout.
Where the D595 Task 1 rubric puts the marks
D595 Task 1 aspects are rated competent, approaching competence or not evident. An audience aspect asks whether the presentation suits a community audience. A content aspect rewards accurate information explained plainly. A proposal aspect looks for clear actions with partners. A responses aspect wants likely questions answered respectfully and with evidence. A reflection aspect asks for thoughtful discussion of communication choices. Graders notice when difficult questions, including opposing views, are anticipated honestly, and they expect sources for injury data and interventions to be cited even when the spoken text keeps statistics to a minimum. A presentation that ends with a clear request, such as joining a working group, reads as complete. Reflection that names specific choices and their reasons shows professional awareness. Clear headings for each part make the paper easy to score.
D595 Task 1 help: what sends it back
D595 presentations lose marks when they read like papers. Write for the ear, with short sentences and few numbers. Responses may avoid hard questions; include the one you least want to answer. Answers can sound defensive, so acknowledge the concern before responding. The proposal is sometimes vague; name the partners and actions. The reflection may repeat the presentation instead of examining choices. Explain why you chose certain words, stories or numbers, and what you would change, since the task tests professional communication as much as content. Rehearse the spoken text aloud to catch sentences that are too long to say. Keep citations in a reference list, even when the spoken text names sources only briefly. Plan how you would follow up with residents after the forum, since trust grows when people see their questions answered.
Get a D595 Task 1 example written to your instructions
Send the task instructions and rubric aspects from your D595 course of study. We write a custom community presentation and responses to those exact aspects, returned in 24-48h. The first custom sample is free.
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D595 Task 1 questions, answered
Is the D595 county real?
No. Fairview County and its injury numbers are invented for the sample. The research on e-bike injuries and prevention cited in the presentation is real. Use local data for your own capstone.
How many questions should D595 answer?
Follow your instructions. The sample prepares answers to the questions residents are most likely to ask, including the hardest ones, such as why not ban e-bikes for teenagers.
Should D595 recommend a ban?
Only if the evidence supports it. The sample explains why bans are hard to enforce and may push riding out of sight, then proposes training, helmets and safer routes.
How should the D595 presentation be written?
As spoken words for a general audience, with short sentences, few statistics and a clear request. Save technical detail for prepared responses and citations. Rehearse it aloud before submitting.
Where can I find a free D595 Task 1 sample paper?
The e-bike forum presentation and prepared answers are reproduced above with notes. Tell us the issue your D595 capstone covers, and your first custom presentation is free.