Simply Safety Fall 2009
Calendar of Events Nov. 9 Car Seat Check Point @ South Ogden City Hall Fire Department 3-5pm Nov. 19 Safe Kids Coalition Meeting 12:00pm @ The Weber-Morgan Health Department English Car Seat Class: Nov., Dec., and Jan. 5:007:00pm @ The Weber-Morgan Health Department. Call Jann Fawcett to register 801-399-7186 Spanish Car Seat Class: Nov. and Jan. 5:00-7:00pm @ The Weber-Morgan Health Department. Call Jann Fawcett to register 801-3997186 April 24, 2010 Safe Kids Day: 10:00am4:00pm @ The Weber County Fairgrounds. If you would like to participate in Safe Kids Day please contact Jann Fawcett @ 801-399-7186
street at a crosswalk or corner, walking on the left and riding on the right, stopping, looking and listening before crossing a driveway, and buckling up on every ride. Kids signed pledge chains that were stapled together to make one large green chain. The chain was hung in their school as a reminder of the pledge they had made to be safe pedestrians. With the beginning of a new school year, many students will be walking or riding a bike to school. The month of September focuses on educating children, parents, and the community on how to be safe pedestrians on the road as students travel to and from school. The Weber-Morgan Health Department had the opportunity to work with several elementary schools to promote Pedestrian Safety. Shadow Valley and Valley were the two target schools we chose for this campaign. Both schools participated in pledging to follow the green ribbon month safety rules, which include: Walking safely on the sidewalk, looking left-right-left before crossing the street, crossing the
Students also received green wristbands with safety messages on them. One school did a Walk to School Day where children and faculty were encouraged to walk to school safely and practice the safety rules they had learned. Parents also received magnets to put on their car showing their support for Pedestrian Safety.
See pictures on page 4.
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Pledge to Stop Distracted Driving
As the U.S. Department of Transportation opens its summit on distracted driving, attention is being focused on the dangers of texting and cell phone use behind the wheel. Safe Kids believes that more distracted driving measures on the federal or state levels will only help
improve safety on the roads. However, we can all do our part to help stop distracted driving today. Join us in signing the Pledge to Stop Distracted Driving. By signing on, you are committing to stop using your hand-held electronic devices while driving. This includes
texting, calls, GPS—anything that takes your attention away from the road. It’s a simple step that will help keep our roads safer for both children and adults! http://sk.convio.net/site/ PageNavigator/ PledgetoStopDistractedDriving
Child Passenger Safety Technician Corner: Fact or Fiction? When a child is rear-facing and their feet are touching the vehicle seat back, they must be turned forward-facing. FICTION: There are no known cases of leg injury from extended rear-facing, but it can be confirmed being turned forward facing too soon can result in spinal cord/neck/head injuries that can be life threatening. It is important to read the user guide for each child restraint as they do vary. For example: Britax convertibles do not have a maximum height capacity for rear-facing use. A maximum weight capacity and appropriate harness positioning is key in appropriate fitment rear-facing. (safekids.org)
Vote for Your Favorite Air & Ground NFL Players of the Week and Support Safe Kids USA! The 2009 NFL season is here, and for the second year – the FedEx Air & Ground NFL Players of the Week Program will benefit Safe Kids USA. Each week, fans will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite NFL Air and Ground players on the NFL Web site. FedEx will then make a $1,000 donation in each of the winning players’ names to the two Safe Kids USA coalitions in the winning players’ teams’ cities. The donations will be used by Safe Kids coalitions for pedestrian safety improvements or education in their communities. In 2008, these improvements included the installation of crosswalk clock timers at a Denver, Colorado elementary school and the gift of safety reflectors to students at a Jacksonville, Florida elementary school to make them more visible to drivers as they walked or biked to school. To learn more about this program, visit : http://www.nfl.com/partner?partnerType=players-air-and-ground
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Spotlight Kara Hansen is our spotlight for this newsletter. She has lived in Utah her whole life and currently lives in Hooper. She works at McKay-Dee Hospital in the Community Health Information Center. She is a Health Educator and Child Passenger Safety Technician. Kara teaches CPR, First Aid and Babysitting classes at the hospital as well as runs the car seat program. She checks car seats for the mothers going home and for people in the community to make sure their car seat are installed correctly. This is Kara’s 2nd year on the Safe Kids Weber-Morgan/Safe Communities Coalition. She enjoys planning Safe Kids Day and seeing how it all turns out at the end. “It always comes together so well and kids have a lot of fun at the event!” She also likes learning about other agencies involved in the Coalition and the services they offer to the community. Something you may not know about Kara, is her favorite weather is when it is 30 degrees outside! “I love the cold! “ She also loves shopping & playing tennis! We enjoy having Kara on the Coalition, she is extremely dependable and is a great asset to the community. Congratulations to Kara and McKay-Dee Hospital for being the Child Passenger Safety Program of the Year.
Seasonal Safety: 10 Ways to Protect Kids from Fire & Burn Injuries As the weather starts to turn colder, the risk of fires increases significantly. Nationwide, 412 children ages 14 and under died in 2006 due to unintentional fire- and burnrelated injuries, and approximately 98,700 more were injured. Approximately 80 percent of all fire-related deaths and injuries occur in the home, and young children are at a particularly high risk because they don’t perceive danger as readily and can lack the ability to escape a life-threatening burn situation. Set your water heater thermostat to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Consider installing water faucets and shower heads containing anti-scald technology. Keep matches, gasoline, lighters and all other flammable materials locked away and out of children’s reach and teach them never to touch these
items. Never leave a burning candle unattended. Place candles in a safe location away from combustible materials and where children or pets cannot tip them over. Keep children away from cooking and heating appliances, and never leave the kitchen while you are cooking. Use back burners and turn pot handles to the back of the stove when cooking. Place space heaters at least 3 feet from curtains, papers, furniture and other flammable materials. Always turn space heaters off when leaving the room or going to bed. Install smoke alarms on every level of the home, outside every sleeping area, and in each bedroom. Test smoke alarms every month and change the
batteries once a year, even if they are hardwired. Smoke alarms are also available with 10-year lithium batteries. Consider a home sprinkler system. The combination of smoke alarms and sprinklers can reduce your chances of dying in a fire by 82 percent. To prepare for an emergency, parents should plan several escape routes out of their home and then designate a safe place to meet. Then practice those plans so that everyone knows exactly what to do. Teach children never to go back into a burning building, and to call the fire department from a neighbor’s home or a cell phone outside. (safekids.org)
Safe Kids WeberMorgan Current Members Lead Agency: Weber-Morgan Health Department Active Members Babies R Us Head Start—OWCAP Intermountain North Ogden Clinic McKay Dee Hospital North Ogden Police Ogden City Bicycle Collective Ogden City Fire Dept. Ogden City Police Ogden Regional Medical Center Pleasant View Police Riverdale Fire Department Roy City Police Roy City Fire South Ogden Police South Ogden Fire Utah Department of Health Utah Highway Patrol Utah Highway Safety Utah Safety Council Weber County Sheriff Office Weber School District Youth Impact
Safe Kids Weber-Morgan The mission of Safe Kids Weber-Morgan is to make the Weber Morgan Health District a safe place for children by preventing injuries and fatalities through: Raising Community awareness Promoting safety Influencing policies Establishing private and public partnerships If you are interested in more information or have any questions about Safe Kids Weber-Morgan please contact:: Jann Fawcett at jfawcett@co.weber.ut.us or call 801-399-7186.
Pictures of Green Ribbon Month Activities at Valley and Shadow Valley Elementary