When you think of Children’s Wisconsin, you probably think about its hospital and clinics, and how they care for kids when they are sick or injured. While Children’s Wisconsin is one of the leading medical centers for kids, they also work tirelessly in communities to keep kids safe and injury free.
Children’s Wisconsin Safety Center
Over the past year, the Injury Prevention Team has brought all of its parental and caregiver resources together in one place called the Children’s Wisconsin Safety Center. The Children’s Wisconsin Safety Center is supported by seven staff members with backgrounds in public health and child safety. One example of their work was highlighted in a recent story about counterfeit car seats, which has helped raise awareness for parents on how to spot these potentially dangerous seats.
On the Safety Center website, you will find educational resources to help navigate child safety in all areas where kids live and play. Topics include:
- Car and booster seats
- Staying safe in the home
- Bikes and helmets
- Pedestrian safety
- Play and sport safety
- Seasonal safety
You can find resources like a room-by-room fire prevention checklist to help you with safety planning at home and safety tips to keep kids safe during this upcoming holiday season.
Community connections
Child passenger safety is an important part of keeping kids safe. Children’s Wisconsin has a car seat clinic, which serves families by checking car seats to make sure they are being used correctly and providing low-cost car seats for families when needed. So far this year, Children’s Wisconsin clinical areas combined with the community car seat clinic (offering both in-person and virtual options) have distributed 482 car seats to families across the state and screened nearly 2,000 kids in our primary care offices to make sure they are riding safe. Learn more about the Children’s Wisconsin car seat services here.
Children’s Wisconsin is the lead agency and administrator for Safe Kids Wisconsin, a member of Safe Kids Worldwide. Safe Kids Wisconsin supports 11 grass roots coalitions throughout the state — led by community health departments and hospitals. Coalitions represent: Fox Valley, Greater Green Bay, La Crosse Coulee Region, Madison area, Marathon County (Wausau), Marinette County, Oconto County, Portage County (Stevens Point), Sauk County (Baraboo), and Wood and Clark County (Wisconsin Rapids). Along with these statewide coalitions, Children’s Wisconsin is also the lead agency for the Safe Kids Southeast Coalition, which is the largest coalition in the state, and works with many local community organizations to host events and provide programming to keep kids safe. All of the Safe Kids coalitions share the common goal of creating awareness around preventing injuries in kids and teens to help them grow to be strong and healthy.
Children’s Wisconsin is contracted by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to coordinate the Wisconsin Car Seat Program. This program provides child passenger safety technician training and resources on child passenger safety for parents and caregivers.
Everyone must work together as a community to keep Wisconsin’s kids safe and injury free. Please visit the Children’s Wisconsin Safety Center to take advantage of the many resources it offers. And, feel free to contact the team any time at safetycenter@childrenswi.org.
