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Hospital Launches Car Seat Programs

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Hospital Launches

Car Seat Programs

DANBURY — This week Danbury Hospital, in conjunction with Fairfield County Safe Kids Coalition, kicked off its satellite car seat program to instruct parents on how to property install child passenger safety seats in their vehicles.

Danbury Hospital, along with St Vincent’s Hospital in Bridgeport, is one of only two hospitals in the state to offer such a program to parents.

According to a study conducted by the Fairfield County Safe Kids Coalition, 98 percent of parents in Connecticut improperly install child passenger safety seats. This compares to 80 percent of parents nationwide based on a study by the National Safe Kids Coalition.

Danbury Hospital will use the Dial-A-Belt automotive safety training station, manufactured by SCI, to give parents hands-on training on installing their child’s safety seat. Dial-A-Belt is a lightweight, portable and comprehensive training chair that incorporates a realistic representation of the various safety belt configurations found in today’s automobiles.

During 1999, staff from Fairfield County Safe Kids Coalition and Connecticut Safe Kids Coalition in Hartford trained four Danbury Hospital employees to become certified child passenger safety seat technicians as part of the satellite car seat program. In addition to instructing parents on how to correctly install child passenger safety seats, technicians will provide car seats or boosters to parents who leave the Hospital immediately following a motor vehicle accident in order to transport a child home safely.

According to Charlie Conway, executive director of Fairfield County Safe Kids Coalition, car seats which have been involved in a motor vehicle accident may no longer be effective and should be replaced. Technicians will also provide infant car beds to parents of premature or low-birth weight babies, who are too small for standard child safety seats when they leave the Hospital, to reduce incidences of respiratory difficulties such as apnea.

Safety Seat Facts

Always use child safety seats and/or safety belts correctly every time you ride. Restrain children ages 12 and under in the back seat.

Infants, until at least 1 year old and 20 pounds, should be in rear-facing child safety seats. Never put a rear-facing infant or convertible safety seat in the front passenger seat of a vehicle with a passenger air bag.

Children over 1 year old and between 20 and 40 pounds should be in forward-facing child safety seats. In addition, children ages 4 to 8 (about 40 to 80 pounds) should be restrained in a car booster seat every time they ride.

Read your child safety seat instruction manual and your motor vehicle owner’s manual for directions on proper installation.

Call the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Auto Safety Hotline, 888/327-4236, to inquire about any recalls or safety notices on your child safety seat.

Child safety seats are extremely effective when correctly installed and used in passenger cars, reducing the risk of death by 71 percent for infants and by 54 percent for children ages 1 to 4, and reducing the need for hospitalization by 69 percent for children ages 4 and under.

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