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San Angelo Safe Kids Coalition
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 The San Angelo Safe Kids Coalition is a local, nonprofit community effort led by San Angelo Community Medical Center. The goal of the San Angelo Safe Kids Coalition is to reduce childhood deaths and injuries through:
- Public awareness
- Education
- Public policy advocacy
- Community action
Major risk areas for children:
- Motor vehicles, primarily from failure to wear a helmet
- Fires and burns
- Choking and poisoning
- Falls
- Drowning
- Firearm and violence-related injuries
Child safety tips:
- Always make sure a child uses a seat belt or is secured in a correctly installed car seat when they ride in an automobile.
- Cross streets hundreds of times with your children before letting them cross alone.
- Always supervise children in and near water.
- Store matches and lighters out of the reach of young children.
- Lower the temperature of your hot water heater to 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Keep common household poisons and medicines out of the sight and reach of children.
- Keep small objects out of the reach of children.
- Always wear a helmet when using a bicycle. Wearing a helmet is the single most important thing children can do to protect their brains and their lives when riding a bicycle.
Did you know:
- Young children can drown in less than an inch of water in a matter of seconds.
- Some children are needlessly burned because they think clothes protect them from flames.
- Drinking mouthwash can cause a young child to fall into an alcohol coma.
- A child can fall out of a window that is open only five inches.
- In an automobile crash at 30 mph, an unbelted child hits the dashboard with as much force as a fall from a three-story building.
- Every year, accidents kill and disable more children than kidnapping, drugs, and disease combined.
- Each year, one in four children is hurt badly enough to need a doctor's attention.
This year:
- One in four children will suffer a preventable injury that needs medical attention.
- One in five of them will require hospital treatment for that injury.
- 50,000 children will be permanently disabled by a preventable injury.
- 8,000 children will die as a result of a preventable injury.
We call them "accidents" but most childhood injuries can be predicted and prevented. Basic safety steps can save thousands of lives and prevent hundreds of thousands of injuries that can produce permanent disabilities.
The San Angelo Safe Kids Coalition works with the National Safe Kids Campaign. Our affiliation links the San Angelo Safe Kids Coalition to state-of-the-art injury prevention information. Call us at 947-6130, e-mail catie.wiedenhofer@triadhospitals.com or visit www.safekids.org
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