A child passenger safety check-up event sponsored by Community Hospital and Safe Kids-Platte Valley is scheduled for Saturday, September 19 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Community Hospital. Certified Child Passenger Safety Technicians will check children’s car seats during the event, which will be held on the northeast corner of Community Hospital’s campus at 1301 East H Street. Participants should use the East 15 Street entrance. In case of rain, the event will be held in one of the emergency ambulance bays.

Many children traveling on Nebraska roads are at risk for death or serious injury due to unsafe or incorrectly installed car seats. Be safe and be sure that your child is protected. This service is free of charge and no appointment is necessary. For questions, call Susan Harris-Broomfield, Community Hospital Outreach Coordinator at 308-344-8550.

Safe Kids Nebraska, coordinated through the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Division, was established in 1993.  It is part of Safe Kids Worldwide founded by the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. to prevent the number one killer of children ages 14 and under: unintentional injuries.  Since the inception of Safe Kids Worldwide in 1987, the accidental childhood injury death rate has declined 45 percent.

The goals of Safe Kids are to address major areas of unintentional injuries to children 14 and under by raising awareness among adults and children, by building long-term grass roots coalitions, and by making childhood injury a public priority.  The major causes of accidental injuries addressed are: 

*          Traffic incidents (including children as occupants, pedestrians and bicyclists)
*          Fires and burns
*          Drownings and near-drownings
*          Falls
*          Poisonings
*          Choking/suffocation/strangulation
*          Sports and recreation injury

Motor Vehicle crashes are the number one killer of kids in Nebraska and the U.S. Child Passenger Safety programs are the number one priority of many of Nebraska's Safe Kids programs.