Category: Uncategorized

Safe Kids Worldwide & Everytown’s Be SMART Program Partner to Promote Secure Firearm Storage

On By Safe Kids Larimer CountyIn firearm safety, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Below is the press release shared on November 17, 2022 from Safe Kids Worldwide on an exciting new partnership!

Be SMART and Safe Kids Worldwide Announce Partnership Designed to Educate People About the Dangers of Unsecured Firearms Ahead of Tomorrow’s National Injury Prevention Day


NEW YORK — Today, Safe Kids Worldwide and Be SMART, a national campaign of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, announced a partnership designed to educate parents and other adults about the importance of secure firearm storage. The partnership, which affirms a shared commitment to promote secure firearm storage as a crucial component of child safety, comes in advance of tomorrow’s National Injury Prevention Day, a day that raises awareness about preventing injuries among children and the fight to end gun violence.

“National Injury Prevention Day serves as a solemn reminder of the responsibility we have as adults to ensure that our communities are safe from gun violence,” said Dr. Kelsey Gastineau, a pediatrics specialist and Be SMART advocate in Tennessee. “Through basic gun safety measures, we can prevent tragedy in our homes, neighborhoods, and schools. We’re proud that Safe Kids, a strong partner in the injury prevention space, is standing with us and recognizes the critical importance of secure firearm storage.”

“Three out of four children living in a house with a gun know where the gun is, even when their parents think they don’t know,” said Torine Creppy, president of Safe Kids Worldwide. “It is an esteemed honor to partner Everytown for Gun Safety and the Be Smart program to educate families and communities about the critical importance of the safe storage of firearms.”

“Gun violence is the leading killer of our children and teens, but so many of these senseless tragedies are preventable through prevention of easy access to firearms,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action. “Making sure parents and gun owners are having these conversations and practicing responsible gun ownership — including securing firearms unloaded, locked, and separate from ammunition — saves lives.”

Together, intentional and unintentional firearm injuries are the leading cause of death among kids ages 1-17. Throughout the U.S., an estimated 13 million households with children under the age of 18 contain at least one gun. Not all of these firearms are stored securely: approximately 4.6 million children live in a household with at least one loaded and unlocked gun.


An overwhelming majority of unintentional shootings by children could have been prevented had the gun not been accessible, which means making sure guns are always inaccessible to kids and unauthorized users. Gun owners can make their families, homes, and communities safer by storing their guns securely — unloaded, locked, and separated from ammunition.


The Be SMART program asks parents and caretakers, gun owners and non-gun owners alike, to
‘Be SMART’ and take these simple steps:
● Secure all guns in their home and vehicles
● Model responsible behavior around guns
● Ask about the presence of unsecured guns in other homes
● Recognize the role of guns in suicide
● Tell your peers to be SMART
For more information on the Be SMART program and how to securely store your firearms, visit BeSMARTforKids.org. To request materials or local presentations, use the “Connect with Be SMART” contact form.


About Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund
Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund (the “Everytown Support Fund”) is the education, research and litigation arm of Everytown for Gun Safety, the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country with nearly six million supporters. The Everytown Support Fund seeks to improve our understanding of the causes of gun violence and help to reduce it by conducting groundbreaking original research, developing evidence-based policies, communicating this knowledge to the American public, and advancing gun safety and gun violence prevention in communities and the courts. Learn more at http://www.everytownsupportfund.org.

About Safe Kids Worldwide
Safe Kids Worldwide is a nonprofit organization working to protect kids from preventable injuries, the number one cause of death for children in the United States. Safe Kids works with an extensive network of more than 400 coalitions in the U.S. and with partners in more than 30 countries to reduce traffic injuries, drownings, falls, burns, poisonings, and more. Safe Kids also engages in advocacy efforts to make kids safer at the federal, state, and local levels. Since 1988, Safe Kids has helped reduce the U.S. childhood death rate from unintentional injury by nearly 60 percent. Learn more at safekids.org.

Winter Sports Safety

On By Safe Kids Larimer CountyIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

It’s finally time for the winter sport we all love, but there are a few safety precautions to take before hitting the slopes, ice, or snowy hills with your loved ones. Below you will find each winter sport divided with safety precautions you should take:

Ice Skating

Our natural instinct when falling is to put our arms out to catch our fall but when we land on ice. However, since ice is a frictionless surface, our arms slide out from under us and we hit our head. Due to this, it is best to use wrist pads to help create a grip on the ice to minimize face/head injuries. Another important way to stay safe on the ice is to wear a helmet. More than 10,000 children each year are treated in the Emergency Room due to ice skating injuries.

Avoid skating on a pond for ultimate safety, however, if skating on a pond is necessary, be sure to check the thickness of the ice yourself prior to sending kids out on it. Always supervise kids when ice skating, especially on a pond.

Skiing/Snowboarding

When it’s finally time to hit the slopes with the family, make sure to bring a helmet that is specifically designed for his/her sport. Bicycle helmets do not provide enough protection. If your child is skiing, make sure their safety bindings are checked yearly for proper function and invest in lessons if they’ve never skied before.

Protective goggles should be worn to protect their eyes for both sports as well as proper gloves. If your child is snowboarding, their gloves should have built-in wrist guards to prevent wrist injuries when falling. The snow may look soft, but the landing is not!

Sledding

Protecting your head while sledding is often overlooked but crucial to injury prevention for children. A winter sports helmet is best; however, a bike helmet is better than no helmet. Another way to stay safe sledding is to sled during the day when you can see best to make sure there are no bumps, rocks, or poles blocking your path. If your child is 5 or under they should sled with an adult. All children should sled feet first, facing forward.

A few other ways to stay safe sledding include: walking up the side of the hill when done and leaving the middle open for active sledders. The last sledding safety tip is to ride one person at a time and only one person per sled (except for adults riding with a child).

Snowmobiling

Snowmobiling is an exhilarating sport, but can be very dangerous for children if you do not take safety precautions. It is recommended that children under the age of 6 not ride on a snowmobile and nobody under the age of 16 should drive one. Both kids and adults should wear helmets and goggles (be a good role model!)

If out in the backcountry (not on a group tour) it is to always safest to travel in groups and make sure others know where you are headed, and yield to those with the right of way.

*In Case of Emergency*

Kids are at a greater risk for frostbite than adults are, so make sure they are dressed warmly. Frostnip is the early sign of frostbite and includes red, numb or tingly skin. If frostbite occurs, remove all wet clothing from the child and place it in warm (not hot) water until they can feel sensation again. Frostbite occurs mostly in fingers, toes, ears, nose, and cheeks. Don’t be caught off guard and dress your children in multiple layers!

Stay safe and have fun!

For more information visit kidshealth.org

Walk Safely This School Year

On By Safe Kids Larimer CountyIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Whether you are excited or not, school is right around the corner! It is time to start thinking about how your child is going to get there. Walking is a great way for them to get exercise! You may ask yourself; how can I keep my children safe as a pedestrian? The idea of not always being there to make sure your child is crossing a street safely or being able to ensure that cars are driving safely may be scary, but you can do your part and educate your child on pedestrian safety.

Eliminate Distractions

  • Take headphones off or turn down the volume on electronics before crossing a street.
  • If you see a friend that is not paying attention or that is distracted, get their attention to keep them safe.
  • If your kids bring a cellphone with them on walks, be sure to teach them that they need to be in a safe location before using the phone.

Putting it into Action

  • Teach children to look left, right then left again before crossing a street and keep scanning as they cross the road.
  • It is safest to remain on sidewalks, paths, or areas designated for pedestrians. Avoid walking on the road or in the bike lane.
  • Teach children not to run across streets or in parking lots.
  • If children are walking when it is dark out, encourage them to wear bright or reflective clothing, or even LED lights you clip on to your clothing.
  • Children should not cross-roads alone if they are 10 years old or younger, as they are not typically able to judge the distance or speed of oncoming traffic.
  • Teach your children what different traffic lights mean, so they can better understand what is going on around them.

Keeping Others Safe

  • When you are in the car be sure to look out for pedestrians, just as you’d like people to look out for you.
  • When driving put your phone or other electronics away so that your attention is on the road.
  • Be a good role-model. If there are children or other adults in your car, be sure to practice safe habits so that they too can practice them.

Start the conversation now and practice walking the route to help both you and your child feel more comfortable as school begins.

Celebrate National Hydration Day

On By Safe Kids Larimer CountyIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Each year on June 23rd the U.S. celebrates National Hydration Day, because it is an important part of our daily habits. Although it may seem minimal if you seem to forget to drink water or hydrate properly, it can lead to serious health implications.

National Hydration Day was formed in honor of a late football coach named Victor Hawkins who was the creator of a mouthguard that hydrated players, in order to keep his players hydrated on the field. The company known as SafeTGard that now sells his invention, started the National Hydration Day to continue on his legacy and keep others healthy and hydrated.

With summer approaching, it is crucial that you encourage both yourself and your children to drink plenty of water. Regardless of your reason for engaging in activity or being out in the sun, it is extremely important that you are keeping yourself hydrated. Regardless of whether you are playing sports, just stepping outside to get fresh air, or even soaking up the sun, drinking enough water is a huge part in deterring dehydration, heat stroke and other harmful issues. Now, let’s look at reasons to increase hydration and ways to do so!

Why Should We Hydrate?

It keeps us healthy!

Making sure that we are eating healthy, working out and getting good sleep are all aspects of good health. If you are dehydrated, then these actions or habits won’t make much of a difference. Drinking water allows for our bodies to have the necessary power to get through the heat of a summer day or a hard workout.

It encourages us to make other healthy choices!

You may notice that when you are properly hydrating you feel great, because when you are dehydrated you may experience headaches, exhaustion and dizziness. Forming the habit of drinking ample amounts of water can feel like an accomplishment and you may start incorporating other healthy habits.

It shows us how important it is to hydrate!

Hopefully you never have and never will experience severe dehydration, but it is important to know how easy it can happen. Nobody can avoid this if they are not hydrating, regardless of our age, fitness level or how me may feel. Our bodies depend on us to drink water and keep ourselves as healthy as we can.

How Can We Make Sure We Hydrate?

Figure out how much you need!

You can simply google how much water you need based on personal factors, also check this for your children. Figuring out how much water you need to drink daily and making it a goal can make it easier to keep up on.

Tell others to stay hydrated!

Giving your friends or family members nice reminders to also stay hydrated is a great way to keep others healthy, but it also reminds you to hydrate more. It is easy to forget to drink enough water each day, unless you have a helpful friend to remind you.

Make water fun with new flavors!

Many people don’t like to drink water due to the taste of it. You can make this a fun activity with your children and increase desire to drink water. Try infusing your water with different fruits such as strawberries, lemons, or cucumber slices.

Take this summer and make it full of fun and hydration! Teach your children how important it is that they are drinking enough water, and allow for them to learn what a difference it can make in their health.

Winter Sports Safety

On By Safe Kids Larimer CountyIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

With winter at its peak and the chance to enjoy a few more weeks of the winter sports activities it has to offer, it could be time to ask, what are your favorite winter sports to engage in? It may be sledding, skiing, ice skating, or perhaps even hockey. Although these sports present us with excitement and the ability to try new activities, it is important that we remain aware of the need for safety while doing so.

Every year nearly 200,000 people receive treatment as a result of injuries due to winter sports. There are numerous injuries that can occur from engaging in winter sports. These can include concussions, strains, fractures, dislocations, and other injuries. Each sport varies in its likelihood of a certain injury occurring, for example, skiers tend to experience knee injuries as a result of a damaged ACL (anterior cruciate ligament). Other sports such as sledding tend to result in head injuries and broken bones. Although it may not be realistic to entirely eliminate the chance of injury, there are a few ways you can limit the probability and enjoy fun, new, and safe winter sports!

One relieving aspect of this is that there are cautionary steps you can take to lower the chances of injury. Let’s take a look at ways you can prevent winter sport related injuries and continue engaging in the hobbies you love.

Slow to Start: Prior to engaging in strenuous sports such as snowboarding or skiing, try warming up. Allow for your muscles, ligaments, and tendons to loosen up through light stretching before taking part in the activity.

Staying in Shape: Ensuring that you do your best to keep your muscles and body in shape can allow for you to jump into winter sports much quicker. Focusing on increasing core strength, upper and lower body strength, and balance can lower risk of injury. When our bodies are in shape and can provide us with a stable base, we are at our best and less injury prone.

Following the Rules: With each winter sport comes different rules to stay safe, and it is important to research the activity you are engaging in prior to. If there are signs when you are skiing or snowboarding, be sure to pay attention to what they say.

Safe to Use Equipment: In any winter sport you are destined to need some sort of equipment, and before doing so, test the equipment to make sure it is safe to use. For example, with sledding, make sure that the sled has no visible safety hazards, and that you have the ability to stop yourself when using.

Falling Correctly: Falling directly onto your elbows, shoulders, and wrists can cause serious injuries. Learning from an informational video or instructor on how to fall correctly can limit the severity of fall related injuries.

Taking into account these tips and tricks to prevent winter related sports injuries will not entirely limit the potential for injury, but it will lower the risk. Even if precautions are taken, injuries may occur, and it is important to receive treatment from a doctor as soon as it happens. Following injuries, you may need rehabilitation, and you can eventually return to those winter sports we all love.