| March 27, 2006
In this Issue:
Each year, nationwide, sports and recreation injuries send more than 1.1 million children ages 5-14 to the emergency room. Roughly half of these injuries are sustained in solo activities, but 574,000 child injuries per year involve team sports. Approximately one out of four participants in youth soccer, football or baseball has been injured at least once, along with about 15 percent of kids playing basketball and 12 percent of kids playing softball. Please contact Erin Petersen, Coordinator, Safe Kids Minnesota at petersen@mnsafetycouncil.org if you are interested in receiving a copy of the sports safety news release template. Safe Kids Buckle Up Breakfast at Lifesavers Safe Kids Buckle Up will host its annual breakfast at Lifesavers on Tuesday, April 11 from 7-8 a.m. at the Hilton Austin in Salon G. Safe Kids coalition members who would like to attend must sign up in advance; due to limited space, a limit of two members per coalition may attend. Please contact Erin Petersen, Coordinator, Safe Kids Minnesota at petersen@mnsafetycouncil.org if you are interested in attending the breakfast as a Safe Kids Minnesota coalition member. USFA Post-Event Fire Kits With the support of the U.S. Fire Administration, Safe Kids Worldwide announces the availability of Rapid Response Post-Event Kits for coalitions that have experienced a recent fire in the community. Each kit contains combination carbon monoxide/smoke detectors, a Safe Kids Fire Response Media Guide and copies of Safe Kids and USFA fire prevention materials and books from the popular Danger Rangers cartoon series. These materials can be used to conduct public education outreach activities promoting fire prevention. In order to be eligible for a kit, coalitions must be in good standing with Worldwide and be able to demonstrate the occurrence of a fire in their community. Each coalition receiving a kit will be required to complete a short evaluation feedback form after conducting outreach efforts. Please contact Erin Petersen, Coordinator, Safe Kids Minnesota at petersen@mnsafetycouncil.org if you are interested or have questions. WHO Helmet Initiative Curious about what is happening in the world of helmets? Ever wonder if helmets are effective in preventing or reducing ski/snowboard head and neck injury? If so, check out the latest edition of the newsletter Headlines, a publication of the World Health Organization Helmet Initiative. For more information, please contact Dr. Philip L. Graitcer, adjunct professor at Emory University, at info@whohelmets.org. Safe Kids and the Danger Rangers Safe Kids Worldwide has entered into a new partnership with Educational Adventures, an edutainment company based in Charlotte, N.C. The two organizations will create a new multimedia campaign based on the Danger Rangers, animated characters designed to empower children to make better safety decisions. The Danger Rangers program currently includes a top-rated, critically-acclaimed and award-winning public television series and a variety of entertainment products, including DVDs and books published by Educational Adventures. The Safe Kids Danger Rangers safety campaign will eventually include radio and television public service announcements, print advertising and special features on the Safe Kids and Danger Rangers Web sites. The campaign’s PSAs will star the Danger Rangers and offer important safety messages aimed at preventing accidental injuries in the home, at school, in the air and on the road. Stay tuned for more information! Letter from AAPCC Executive Director The following letter was sent by Anne Flanagan, Executive Director of the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC), to all AAPCC members regarding the Safe Kids Worldwide Poison Prevention PSA and campaign. Dear Members, This is a follow up to my (communication) on February 24th regarding the situation with Safe Kids and a planned launch for a new 800 telephone number in conjunction with Poison Prevention Week. Again, I would like to thank everyone who provided input and comments on this issue. We have continued to work directly with our contacts at Safe Kids in achieving a resolution. By way of background, Safe Kids produced a Public Service Announcement that promoted their own agenda, which is poison prevention, and directed the public to call their new phone number. Since it is standard practice for public, private and government agency partners to include the poison centers' 800-number on their poison prevention week materials, the PSA has proven to be controversial. The AAPCC was not involved in producing the PSA. AAPCC has worked with Safe Kids to achieve the best solution given that the PSA has already been distributed and it is too late to recall. In light of the fact that the PSA has not yet been released, we focused our action steps on those that could be taken now to protect the public. The result is the following: - Both live voice answer and off hours voice activated messages will direct callers to the 1 800 222-1222 number in the event of a poisoning emergency - Prominent display of 1 800 222-1222 on all brochures and posters - Safe Kids 800 telephone number will have 24/7 answering capabilities Safe Kids is sensitive to the issues that have been raised and is eager to continue to support the goals and objectives of the PCCs and the AAPCC. To that end we are working to continue to maintain a positive, productive relationship and ensure that our messages remain consistent. Please let me know if you have any questions. Regards, Anne |
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