Injury Prevention & Safety
Each year, more than 6,500 U.S. children under the age of 14 are killed by preventable injuries. The Injury Prevention Center at Phoenix Children's Hospital focuses on preventing injuries in children birth to 19 years of age. The Center serves as a resource to Arizona children, families, health care professionals, and community-based organizations.
Download our injury prevention brochures, available in English and Spanish:
Learn how to keep your child safe with these programs:
Helmet Your Brain
Bicycle "Driver" Ed
Ride Safe Car Seat Education Program
Water Watchers - Drowning Prevention Programs
A helmet won't prevent a crash on a bike, a scooter or a skateboard. But wearing a helmet can prevent life-long disability, or even death, that can result from a brain injury.
Nearly half of all bike-related hospitalizations are diagnosed as traumatic brain injury. "Physically putting on a helmet is such an easy thing and reduces the risk of serious brain injury by 88 percent," said Susan Bookspan, injury prevention project coordinator. "Convincing children why they need to wear a helmet can be a little more challenging. This is where the Helmet Your Brain program can help."
The goal of the Helmet Your Brain program is to teach children to get into the helmet habit by giving them information to help them make healthy decisions. "We want to make children a part of the decision-making process. They need to see the value in wearing a helmet so they can make safer decisions on their own," said Bookspan. The Helmet Your Brain™ program focuses on what might happen to your head and brain in a crash, how a helmet works, how to fit a helmet and more. The highlight of the program is a lesson that helps kids make the decision to wear a helmet.
The Phoenix Children's helmet safety awareness program has reached more than 10,000 kids and families in the past five years. A free Helmet Your Brain™ program box and curriculum is available to teachers, community organizations and parents.
When kids turn 16 they take driver's education before they're allowed to drive car. But before most kids drive a car, they're riding a bike in traffic. Bicycle Drivers Ed™ is similar to motor vehicle driver's education, but the "vehicle" is a bike, skate board or scooter.
So what does this mean? Thinking like a "driver" adds a whole new dimension of responsibility and importance to the process of riding a bike. Now you are just like any other driver out there. You have to think like a driver and act like a driver. That doesn't mean you can't have fun. You will just have fun more safely and responsibly.
Middle school students across the Valley learn how to "drive" in traffic to prevent accidents, how to cross intersections, how to approach traffic signals, how to ride at night and how to make safer decisions in traffic. Bicycle Drivers Ed™ is the key to traffic safety for "tweens."
Motor vehicle accidents are the most common cause of injury, and using safety seats is one of the easiest ways to keep kids out of harm's way. Yet, too many Arizona's children still ride unrestrained.
Ride Safe is a critically important community-based education program that teaches parents which type of car seat is safest for the age of their child, the importance of using safety seats, and how to install them correctly.
"We try to provide education programs that will change behavior-helping parents make sure that their children are safely restrained," Sally Moffat, Director of Community Outreach, says. "We know that 98 percent of infants through three year olds are in child passenger restraints. But that number is less than 50 percent for children between the ages of four and eight. Our community target for Kids Ride Safe is the three through 12 year olds."
Did You Know?
▪ Child safety seats are 71 percent effective in reducing fatalities among infants younger than one year old and 54 percent more effective in reducing fatalities among children ages one to four. Booster seats are 59 percent more effective than safety belts in reducing fatalities among children ages four to eight. Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
▪ Placing children in the back seat of vehicles reduces the risk of fatal injuries by 46 percent. Source: CDC-National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
On May 31, 1998, Weston Letter drowned in his family's swimming pool. Family members and friends of the Letter family began Phoenix Children's Hospital's Water Watchers programs to honor Weston's memory and teach the community that tragedy knows no boundaries.
Drowning Impact Awareness Month, Water Safety Day, Tubby Tags, and the Water Watchers program are all part of Phoenix Children's efforts to keep water safety front and center in the minds of adults and children who live in our state.
Every year, an average of 20 children drown in Maricopa County alone. It's the second most common cause of injury for children in our state. Many near-drowning victims suffer permanent neurological impairment.
Learn about water safety:
ABCs of Water Safety Checklist
Pool Safety Tips
Swimming Pool Barrier Codes by City
The Water Watchers programs at Phoenix Children's Hospital emphasize the ABC's of Water SafetyTM: adult supervision, barriers (fences), and classes (such as CPR and swimming lessons at the appropriate age). 
Each year about 250 Valley schools use the Water Watchers curriculum and about 1,200 first graders attend Water Safety Day.
Download the Water Watchers Curriculum (this will take minute to download, so thanks in advance for your patience.)
Announcement:
Water Safety Day 2008 will be held at South Mountain Community College on March 25, 2008.
Contact:
For more information, contact Tiffaney Isaacson at tisaacson@phoenixchildrens.com or (480) 292-8774.
