NEWS -

Emergency Medical Services

Medical services marching toward car safety 

Published "Sunday
By GEOFF ZIEZULEWICZ
The Beaufort Gazette

Beaufort County Emergency Medical Services will take a step toward reducing the number of children injured in car accidents, when it begins a free monthly child car seat inspection program Friday.
The program will operate on an appointment-only basis and will allow parents and guardians the chance to make sure safety seats are properly installed, Beaufort County EMS Director Ed Allen said.

"This is another means for our employees to give back to the community," he said. "Nothing affects a staff member more than seeing an injured child."

In addition to ensuring that the seats are properly in place, the inspection also will cross-check the seat to make sure there was not a manufacturer recall out for that model, EMS spokesman Danny Tinnel said.

The decision to start a monthly program came after EMS hosted similar events last year and received a good public reaction, Tinnel said.

"We were finding we got calls from people saying they wanted to get their car seats inspected," he said.

In one of their recent inspections, Tinnel said inspectors found that 48 out of 52 car seats they looked at were either defective or improperly installed.

According to the National Safe Kids Campaign, 82 percent of child safety seats are not installed or used correctly, and motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of injury-related death among children 14 and under.

Dr. Saeed Rehman, director of the emergency department at Beaufort Memorial Hospital, said he often sees the benefits of proper safety seat installation, as well as its drawbacks.

"We get a lot of kids here, and the beauty of the car seat, more so than seat belts, is that the parents can have injuries from an accident but the kids are smiling because they were well protected," Rehman said. "Adults can take pain better, but you can't stand seeing a child in pain.

Allen said he will gauge response to the program and may schedule inspections more than once a month if the public response is strong enough.

"We are concerned to find that incorrect use of child safety seats continues to plague unknowing parents and caregivers," Allen said. "These seemingly small mistakes can lead to tragic consequences for children."