Safe Kids Georgia

Results: Safe Kids Georgia has proven it takes a willing attitude and winning spirit to make a program grow strong enough to reach its goals. During the last ten years the unintentional injury death rate among Georgia’s children 14 and under has declined by 36 percent. Safe Kids Totals for 2008: Safety Education Materials Distributed 134,764 Events Held 589 People Reached 124,034

Target demographics: Safe Kids Georgia is dedicated solely to preventing unintentional childhood injury ages 14 and under.

Programs: Note - program service expenses of 23,293 for coalition support do not include expenditures for services and facilities contributed to safe kids of georgia ("safe kids") by its partnering lead organization, children's healthcare of atlanta ("choa"). If such expenditures were included, coalition support expenses would be 275,435 (57. 9%) of total functional expenses of 475,632 as reported in safe kids' audited financial statements. Coalition support:safe kids had 29 coalitions at december 31, 2014 throughout the state of georgia helping to achieve its goal. Safe kids provides accounting support to most of the coalitions by maintaining a centralized bank account and separately tracking the receipts and expenses of the individual coalitions. Additionally, in order to address the need to develop sustainable resources, coupled with the need to collaborate and share best practices as well as educate on business practices, safe kids georgia held their annual leadership conference. This carefully planned and executed event is comprised of injury prevention experts (coalition coordinators and their constituents) who gather to attend sessions on topics such as sports safety, conducting community needs assessments, strategic planning, creating a work/life balance and securing funds for the future. The conference educated over 70 injury prevention stakeholders from law enforcement, fire departments, hospitals, businesses and non-profit agencies from around georgia.

note - program service expenses of 105,714 for community programs do not include expenditures for services and facilities contributed to safe kids by its partnering lead organization, choa. If such expenditures were included, community programs expenses would be 109,750 (23. 1%) of total functional expenses of 475,632 as reported in safe kids' audited financial statements. Community programs:safe kids of georgia actively participates in community events and programs that target unintentional injuries to children. Our top seven focus areas include child passenger safety, home safety, pedestrian safety, water safety, bike safety, sports safety, and fire safety. A few of our important programs are described below. (1) child passenger safety program (cps)motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among children. In 2013, more than 150 children ages 19 years and younger died as occupants in motor vehicle crashes and nearly 20,000 were injured in georgia. Since nearly 73 percent of child restraints are not installed or used incorrectly, a cps program was initiated. Each of our 29 coalitions has a comprehensive cps program that includes a variety of components to educate about the proper installation and use of child restraints as well as safety in and around the car. Many coalitions have permanent child safety seat inspection stations where child passenger safety technicians (certified by safe kids worldwide after a four day class) educate and assist parents and caregivers on how to properly install their car seats in their vehicles. Our coalitions also provide numerous car seats to low income families that received wic, medicaid, or peachcare for kids. Coalitions conduct monthly car seat classes and frequent car seat check events in partnership with community organizations. These consist of child passenger safety technicians that instruct families on the proper installation and use of a car seat as well as provide them with a car seat if needed. In 2014, our coalitions checked over 5,000 car seats and distributed nearly 2,800 seats. In addition, nearly 45,000 children, teens, parents, grandparents, at-risk and low income families have been reached with the invaluable information of car seat safety. Child safety seats can reduce fatal injury by up to 71 percent for infants and 54 percent for toddlers (ages 1 to 4). No number can reflect the impact that this life-saving information and device makes in the life of a family. (2) home safety and poison preventionevery day, six children die from an injury in the home, and 10,000 go to the emergency department for the kinds of injuries that commonly happen in homes. To prevent these deaths and injuries, our home safety programs teach parents the simple steps they can take to protect their kids at home. Safe kids' home safety programs intersect with several other areas including burn and drowning prevention. Our programs focus on poisoning, falls, sleep, and toy safety that raises awareness for suffocation and choking. Our coalitions conducted over 200 home safety programs that reached over nearly 8,000 parents, caregivers, and children. We distributed over 500 home safety devices including cribs, tv straps, and gun locks and nearly 18,000 home safety educational materials. Due to the rise of poisonings, many of our coalitions focus on poison prevention. Nearly 840 children ages 19 and under died from poisonings in 2010, and the number of children dying from poisoning has more than doubled since 1999. While most parents and caregivers are familiar with other poisoning culprits such as cleaning supplies and poisonous plants, most childhood poisonings occur from medications. The best form of prevention is to remove any risk from a child's environment. Safe kids of georgia partnered with the georgia poison center to develop a comprehensive community-based prescription drug abuse, medication misuse, and poisoning prevention program targeting vulnerable and underserved populations. Training was provided to all coalition members in a train-the-trainer format so they will be able to deliver educational programs in their communities. Nearly 50 coalition members and coordinators were trained as poison prevention instructors. Coalitions are supplied with the resources to provide poison prevention programs and education in their communities through program-to-go kits as well as brochures and handouts. Safe kids of georgia's coalitions also participate and host operation pill drops, take-back events where the public can drop off prescriptions or over-the-counter products that may have expired or are unused. (3) hyperthermiasince 1998, there have been at least 606 documented cases of heatstroke deaths of children in vehicles. Sadly, more than half of these reported heat stroke deaths occurred when a distracted caregiver forgot their child was in the car or truck. Other heat stroke fatalities occurred when a child was playing in an unattended vehicle and became trapped, or when a child was intentionally left unattended by an adult "for just a few minutes. " safe kids of georgia partners with state agencies including department of public health, department of early care and learning, and governor's office of highway safety on a media event to spread awareness of the dangers of leaving children in hot cars. We remind families and caregivers to never leave a child in a vehicle unattended, always lock your car and put the keys out of reach, and call 911 if you see a child left in a car. Safe kids of georgia coalitions also participated in numerous media efforts across the state. (4) pedestrian safetyin 2011, 465 pedestrian fatalities among children ages 19 and under occurred, and in 2010, approximately 22,350 children were non-fatally injured in pedestrian incidents. Safe kids coalitions partner with numerous local organizations, including safe routes to school, to deliver pedestrian safety education to children. Many coalitions also participate in international walk to school day to raise community awareness about walking safety and promote healthy behavior. Some coalitions use grant funds to create environmental modifications to decrease the number of pedestrian related fatalities and injuries in their communities. In 2014, safe kids of georgia was awarded the safe school zone grant from safe kids worldwide to improve conditions for pedestrians ages 19 and under in atlanta. We are currently working with a local school to identify problem areas and establish modifications. The staggering statistic that most drivers were going 55 mph on a 35 mph road led our safe kids clayton county to create a crosswalk on rex road at the carl rhodenizer center, a popular recreation center in clayton county. Our safe kids dekalb coalition also created an environmental modification at the torah day school intersection so that students can cross the street to get to their school safely.