HOSPITAL PROMOTES BOOSTER SEAT USE

Kindergarten students at Dent Elementary and Heart of the Lakes schools participated in National Child Passenger Safety week by learning about the importance of booster seat use while riding in a vehicle. Perham Memorial Hospital’s certified car seat safety technicians, Kayla Mattson and Jessica Ruther, shared with students how booster seat use can protect them if they are below the height and weight safety standards for using the vehicle’s seatbelts.

“Children under 4 foot, 9 inches and 80 pounds are not safe in an adult seatbelt because they don’t fit their smaller sizes properly,” explained Mattson. “If a crash takes place and the seatbelt doesn’t fit properly, there can be serious injury.”

Mattson and Ruther charted each kindergartner’s height and weight and provided a recommendation to the child’s caregiver about whether the child should use a safety seat. The students learned why it’s important to stay in a booster until they are tall enough to sit without it.

Interestingly, there is a bill in the Minnesota legislature proposing the age be raised from four to eight that a child is secured in a car safety seat. If the bill is passed, for most children this will mean using a booster seat while in a vehicle.

“Our hope is that the students will share with their families what they learned and the result will be that more of our kids are riding safely,” added Ruther. “We all have the same goal – to keep our children safe.”

Perham Memorial Hospital is currently planning a car seat safety clinic for May 23, 2007, at the Perham Fire Hall. The event is free and open to the public and will provide parents the opportunity to have safety experts determine if the right car seat is being used, if the seat is correctly installed in the vehicle, and to teach the proper way to secure the child in his or her car seat. Watch for more information as the event draws near.

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