Chelsea Elementary School to Participate in the Risk Watch Unintentional Injury Prevention Program

Chelsea Elementary School
to Participate in the
Risk Watch Unintentional Injury
Prevention Program

Despite the attention commanded by kidnapping, drugs, and other threats to young children, it is actually a handful of simple, preventable injuries that are the number-one health risk for children ages 14 and under. Yet according to the nonprofit National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), parents and caregivers too often view these hazards as inevitable consequences of growing up.

In an effort to reduce those risks in Chelsea, the Alabama Fire College has awarded Chelsea and 19 other communities within the state as recipients of this year’s Risk Watch Community Grant. The national childhood injury prevention program Risk Watch, a comprehensive injury prevention program is designed for use in classrooms pre k through 8th grade. The program gives children and their families the information and support they need to make positive, health – promoting choices about their personal and well-being.

Risk Watch targets the eight leading causes of injury for children: motor vehicle crashes; fires and burns; choking, suffocation, and strangulation; poisoning; falls; unintentional firearms incidents; bike and pedestrian hazards; and water hazards. The curriculum, divided into five learning-level modules (preschool through grade eight), is designed to involve children as active participants, not just as listeners.
“Risk Watch not only communicates good, basic safety information in a way that’s interesting to children and their families but it also promotes partnerships among local, state, and national agencies who provide resources and support for many of the Risk Watch safety lessons,” says Wayne Shirley, Fire Chief of Chelsea Fire & Rescue. “Our state Risk Watch coalition is made up of committed local and state safety experts who have been working together to prevent unintentional childhood injuries,” says Jerri Ayers, Alabama Fire College Public Education Specialist. Dr. Lynn Cook, Principal of Chelsea Elementary School says, “Our goal is to establish Risk Watch as the benchmark for safety education in Chelsea so that our children and families can make wiser choices and prevent needless tragedies.”

Chief Shirley has also been working with Mike Burns, Principal of Chelsea Middle School and hopes to have the program implemented there in the near future as well. “We receive GREAT support from our schools in Chelsea and I appreciate their willingness to work with us on programs such as Risk Watch.”

In addition to Risk Watch, Chelsea Fire & Rescue is participating in a high-risk community outreach smoke detector program as well as the implementation the senior citizens fire and falls prevention program Remembering When.

Risk Watch was developed under the direction of the NFPA with co-funding from the Home Safety Council and technical support from a coalition of North America’s most authoritative injury prevention professionals.

Submitted by Chief Wayne Shirley
Posted Jan 19, 2005