The Family Resource Center at Dignity Health, Yavapai Regional Medical Center (YRMC) has recently announced that it will continue its partnership with the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety to offer a free car seat safety program to families in Yavapai County.
YRMC’s Family Resource Center has been serving families in the Quad Cities area for over 30 years, working to keep children safe and empowering parents with the knowledge, tools, and resources to build strong parent-child relationships and to give children the best start in life possible.
Incorporating the latest research in early child development, the Family Resource Center’s nationally accredited Healthy Families program supports parents and children via free home visits from highly-trained early childhood specialists. This program promotes healthy pregnancies, bonding and attachment, and ways to encourage healthy brain development.
Healthy brain development creates the foundation for emotional regulation and a child’s perception, ability, and skill to respond to everything in life as they enter adulthood. This includes how they cope with stress and challenges, and what kind of relationships (of all types) they pursue. YRMC’s Healthy Families program also provides developmental and other screenings and connections to community resources, individualized for each family.
A renewed grant from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety in the amount of $11,185 will support the Family Resource Center team as they support families in an additional way—offering car seat safety checks, distributing seats free of charge when needed, and providing education to help keep children safe inside their family’s vehicles.
During the 2021 fiscal year, more than 97 percent of the seats checked via this program arrived in an unsafe configuration, greatly increasing the child’s risk of injury or death in the event of a car accident.
Caregivers who participate will need a vehicle with working seat belts. They will receive a one-time, 30 to 45 minute session that includes child safety seat education, a safety check guide, and hands-on installation in their vehicle. Caregivers who already have seats are invited to take advantage of this program to complete a safety check and assure all safety aspects are considered (for example, car seats expire, typically six years after the date of manufacture, at which point the seat can no longer adequately protect a child). These sessions are scheduled weekly and provided by nationally certified Child Passenger Safety Technicians.
Keeping your child safe is one of the most important jobs of caregivers. YRMC’s Family Resource Center and the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety have made it easier for many of our families in the Quad City area to do just that. For more information or to schedule an appointment, please call the Family Resource Center at (928) 771-5651.
Submitted by Dignity Health, Yavapai Regional Medical Center