The Injury Free Mobile

BIG RED BUS PROMOTES SAFETY

This past Valentine's Day, The Children's Trust and The Injury Free Coalition for Kids of Miami gave a gift of love to the Miami-Dade community, as they unveiled "The Injury Free Mobile," a brand new, shiny, large red bus, dedicated to preventing child injuries. Designed to teach parents how to keep children safe from injury, the bus displays hands-on exhibits showing risks in the home, in and around water, and on wheels.

Purchased by The Children's Trust, The Injury Free Mobile, is a brightly colored bus that simulates a house on wheels with interactive exhibits to teach parents and caregivers how to reduce risks in the home and on the road. The bus is now traveling around Miami-Dade County four days a week, opening its doors to the public at JHS primary care centers, schools, community gathering places and many other locations.

Research demonstrates that hands-on training of child safety practices and access to affordable safety items significantly increases parent/caregiver knowledge and safety practices of these devices. Located on The Injury Free Mobile is an exhibit that demonstrates the threat of strangulation that exists in homes where venetian blind chords are not properly secured or kept out of reach of children. This exhibit is dedicated to Samantha Kessler, a Miami native, who tragically died at the age of two when she climbed out of her crib and as any curious child might do, played with the venetian blind cord and accidentally strangled herself. Her parents, Katie and Marc Kessler have created the Samantha Foundation in her honor and joined forces with The Injury Free Coalition to prevent childhood injuries and death.

"Each day, Jackson Memorial Hospital's Emergency Room and Ryder Trauma Center respond to the most severe child injuries," stated Gayane Stepanian, Director of The Injury Free Mobile. Child injury is a problem that crosses a broad spectrum of cultural and economic lines. As injury prevention providers and researchers, The Injury Free Coalition for Kids of Miami quickly recognized that the only way to prevent needless injuries was to go mobile," continued Stepanian. Because The Children's Trust recognizes child safety as a priority, The Board voted to provide funds to The Injury Free Coalition for Kids of Miami for the development and operation of a mobile injury prevention center.

"Many injuries are not accidents. Injuries are preventable," asserts Dr. Judy Schaechter, pediatrician and faculty at the Miller School of Medicine, as well as director of The Injury Free Coalition for Kids. In addition to providing the bus for public exhibition, The Injury Free Coalition offers programs on playground safety and violence prevention, as well as passenger, water and home safety. The bus was recently made available for public viewing at Univision’s Mujer, Familia Y Hogar Expo, held at Tamiami Park. Besides funding The Injury Free Coalition for Kids, The Children's Trust currently funds more than $16 million to 77 prevention and promotion providers, many of them with more than one program in their curriculum.

Some troubling statistics regarding childhood injury and untimely deaths*:

• Children under the age of four accounted for nearly 70% of these deaths.


• In 2000, the number of children ages 14 and under who died as a result of a home accident reached a staggering 5,686.


• Each year, more than 4.5 million children ages 14 and under are treated in hospital emergency departments for injuries incurred in the home.

*Source: National SAFE KIDS Organization