Safety and Pediatric Trauma > Create The Project
| Funding | Hours | Personnel |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate | Low | Low |
Project: Car Safety Seat Programs
In a car that collides with a stationary object at thirty miles per hour, an unrestrained baby will suffer injuries equivalent to falling from a third story window. That is why every child should ride in a car seat.
Some parents cannot afford to purchase a safety seat, and children visiting grandparents often don't bring a car seat along. Even when a family purchases a safety seat, it sometimes isn't used because it's inconvenient or the baby is crying.
Kiwanis clubs can make sure that safety seats are available to everyone in the community by setting up a safety seat loan program. This involves purchasing or securing donations of new safety seats, establishing a location (car dealership, hospital, police station) from which the seats will be loaned or given, establishing the criteria for providing a seat to a family, and making sure the people handing out the car seats have the training to install car seats properly.
Recent research also indicates that nine out of ten car safety seats are improperly installed. This means that most children aren't really protected in an accident-and in a few cases they are in greater danger than without the safety seat.
| Funding | Hours | Personnel |
|---|---|---|
| Low to moderate | Low | Low |
Project: Distribute a Home Safety Checklis
The possible hazards in a home are so numerous that parents often are not aware of them until tragedy strikes. A safety checklist can help parents identify and correct potential dangers in their homes.
| Funding | Hours | Personnel |
|---|---|---|
| Low | Low | Low |
Project: Educate the Community about Scald Burns
Young children suffer scald burns very quickly because their skin is so thin-and it happens to young children more than half a million times a year. A club can promote the installation of anti-scald safety valves (that prevent tap water from reaching scalding temperatures) and work toward changes in plumbing codes to reduce maximum hot water temperatures in new construction to 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
| Funding | Hours | Personnel |
|---|---|---|
| Low to moderate | Moderate | Moderate to high |
Project: Smoke Alarm Safety
One-third of the smoke detectors installed in houses don't work. If a fire occurs, they won't make a sound, because most smoke alarms still contain their original batteries, from three, five, or even ten years ago. A simple project can solve this problem: an annual campaign for everyone to check the batteries in their smoke detectors. This can involve ads in the local paper or distribution of fliers. This campaign can be expanded to include distribution of batteries and smoke detectors in neighborhoods.
| Funding | Hours | Personnel |
|---|---|---|
| Low | High | High |
Project: Initiate a Drown-Proofing Class for Young Children
Young children are fascinated by water. No matter what the weather, how they are dressed, or how deep it is, they want to get into it. However, many young children don't know what to do in water over their heads.
Many Red Cross chapters and YMCA facilities have swimming lessons for young children and their parents. The purpose of these programs is to develop in the children the techniques and confidence necessary to stay afloat. A club could work with the local Red Cross or YMCA to offer this program, perhaps subsidize it, and promote the program to ensure full classes.
| Funding | Hours | Personnel |
|---|---|---|
| Low to moderate | Moderate | Low |
Project: Educate the Community about Poisons
The same impulse that leads a child to swallow a toy may impel him to drink or eat a poisonous substance. Clubs can help parents through an awareness campaign that reminds them to keep paints, cleaning compounds, beauty aids, and even house plants out of the reach of their children. "Mr. Yuck" stickers can be distributed, so that parents can label poisonous substances with a consistent warning that they discuss with their children. Finally, a club could print and distribute copies of a chart that tells parents what to do if their children consume a poisonous substance.
| Funding | Hours | Personnel |
|---|---|---|
| Low | Moderate | Moderate |
Project: Install Gates and Bars to Prevent Falls
Safety devices that prevent falls are quite simple and obvious. A gate at a stairway will keep a child from trying to climb up or down. A bar across a large bay window will keep a child from leaning against a screen-and falling thorough it. Some families need assistance in purchasing or installing these devices. A club could advertise its willingness to help families solve such safety problems and send out a fix-it team to respond to each call.
| Funding | Hours | Personnel |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate | Moderate | Low |
Project: Train Baby-Sitters
A baby-sitter needs to do more than simply watch a child under her care. She needs to know how to prevent injuries and respond decisively to accidents. The "Safe Sitter" training program teaches young people eleven to thirteen years old how to care for children. The course instructs how to deal with medical emergencies, the responsibilities of safe baby-sitting, age-appropriate entertainment, and the basics of starting a business. Finally, it concludes with a rigorous exam.
A club interested in establishing a "Safe Sitter" program should work with a hospital, school, library, or youth agency. The program must be run by a certified instructor and requires a CPR mannequin, dolls, diapers, baby bottles, and other equipment. Initial certification costs $350, and training is $50 per person, plus travel. Three or four people should be trained. To learn more about the "Safe Sitter" program, call 800/255-4089.
| Funding | Hours | Personnel |
|---|---|---|
| Variable | Variable | Variable |
Project: Support a Pediatric Trauma Program
Doctors have discovered that children's responses to injuries are different from adults. To properly treat a severely injured child requires special techniques and equipment. Doctors must understand the different types of injuries that can occur to a young body, a child's unique response to blood loss, and the appropriate drug dosages. Often the child can't explain what is wrong, and his or her emotional reaction can be severe. Even the equipment must be a special size to fit the child. A hospital that treats only a few seriously injured children each year may not be prepared to meet these special needs, and that can mean the difference between life and death.
That is why Kiwanis clubs in six districts have worked with leading children's hospitals to set up pediatric trauma centers. These centers then offer support to other hospitals and develop a coordinated system to ensure that severely injured children throughout the state or states receive the care they need. The most advanced program is in New England , where the Kiwanis district helped found the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute, the first pediatric trauma center in the world. This program has developed several ways for Kiwanis clubs to provide support, including fund-raising, training for medical personnel, equipment purchases, and building of landing pads.
- Fund Raising — Establishing a significant program in a major children's hospital requires that the Kiwanis district raise at least one-quarter of the funds needed. Depending on the district and the size of the program, the annual commitment could be $50,000 to $250,000 a year, requiring every club in the district to make significant contributions.
- Training Programs — The way children are treated from the moment help arrives, the accuracy and speed of the information radioed back to the hospital, the time spent arranging for transportation to a tertiary care hospital-all of these can have a significant impact on a child's recovery. For this reason, clubs have sponsored training programs for emergency medical technicians and nurses or arranged for doctors to attend meetings sponsored by the pediatric trauma center.
- Equipment Purchase — Ambulance equipment that fits an adult may be useless for a child. Many clubs help purchase pediatric equipment for ambulances or local hospitals.
- Landing Pads — To ensure that a severely traumatized child can quickly be transported from the local hospital to the tertiary care center (the pediatric trauma center), clubs have built helicopter landing pads near their hospitals.
| Funding | Hours | Personnel |
|---|---|---|
| Variable | Variable | Variable |
Project: Support the Children's Miracle Network Telethon
The Children's Miracle Network was created by the Osmond Foundation to alleviate children's hospitals' immense financial burdens. The Children's Miracle Network sponsors a telethon each year during the first weekend in June for children's hospitals and other hospitals with a strong emphasis on pediatrics that are members of the Children's Miracle Network.
The Children's Miracle Network Telethon is unique. It is broadcast nationally from Disney World in Orlando, Florida, and on more than 160 different local telethons throughout the US and Canada . All funds raised locally go directly to the children's hospital in the community where the money was raised. None goes to a national office.
Kiwanis International has been a national sponsor since the telethon was founded in 1982. Kiwanis clubs have raised several million dollars for children's hospitals since then.
A club might consider starting any number of Young Children: Priority One projects at an area children's hospital, and donate the funds raised for it through the Children's Miracle Network Telethon. Be sure that the hospital is a member of the Children's Miracle Network.
Club members should discuss with the hospital's telethon coordinator the possibility of setting up a special Kiwanis Young Children: Priority One fund, so that the club can have a better idea of how its funds are impacting the well-being of young children.