| CPS Center, RuCo Sheriff's Office team up |
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Posted: Monday, January 11, 2010 1:07 pm
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The Middle Tennessee Child Passenger Safety Center at Meharry Medical College in Nashville will provide 150 booster seats to low-income families with help from the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office. The program will launch with a child safety seat checkup at La Vergne Primary School on Jan. 13, 2010, from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Parents picking up their children at La Vergne Primary will be able to consult with a certified child passenger safety technician on the transportation of their booster age children. The child safety seats were purchased with funds from the Tennessee Department of Health and the Governor’s Highway Safety Office.
Studies show that car seats can decrease the risk of death for infants by 71 percent and booster seats reduce death for toddlers by 54 percent. However, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, three out of four families are misusing their seats. The Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office is the county’s official child passenger safety fitting station and reports a 97 percent misuse rate in the Rutherford County area.
Angela Brown is program manager for the Middle Tennessee Child Passenger Safety Center. She is coordinating with Deputy Jimmy Cassidy, who is also a certified child passenger safety instructor. They stress that once children have outgrown their forward facing seats they must use booster seats until they are 4 feet, 9 inches tall. Not only is it the law in Tennessee, but graduating to seat belts too soon has particular dangers. “Emergency rooms recognize these injuries as ‘seat belt syndrome,’” said Brown. “They are injuries to the neck and midsection caused by lap and shoulder belts. Booster seats position children so the belt is a protection, not a danger.
“The single most important message I have for parents is to have their car seats checked by a certified child passenger safety technician,” she added. “The center has established 41 fitting stations throughout Middle Tennessee that help families fit their seats correctly at no charge.”
For more information about child passenger safety or the safety seat check in La Vergne, call 615-327-5900 or 327-6773.
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