SAFE KIDS/Safe Communities – June

Dear SK/SC Coordinators:

Hope you are all doing well and welcome to yet another action packed edition of the monthly updates. Before I delve into the monthly occupant protection and DUI prevention activities, I would like to inform you that Hillary Guilford is our newest MOST of Us Prevent Drinking an Driving Coordinator. You can contact her via telephone (994-5689); you will all get the pleasure of meeting her at the next quarterly meeting in August. Also, a round of applause for this month’s featured SK/SC coordinator, Lori Posey and her supervisor, Carol Keaster. Thank you Lori and Carol.

General Information

* As mentioned at the May 05, 2003 SK/SC quarterly meeting and in the May edition of the update, please remember to utilize the evaluation survey that was sent to all of you electronically. We believe that this evaluation is a useful tool in measuring the efficacy of the activities that you are pursuing. Please contact me at 994-7754 if you need me to send you another copy of the evaluation survey or have any questions.

MOST of Us Prevent Drinking and Driving Campaign

* Once again, the major activities associated with the DUI Campaign have come to a close, at least until this fall. Currently, the MOST of Us Prevent Drinking and Driving television and radio ads are continuing to run as PSAs throughout the state, and will continue todo so until the end of September.
* A point-in-time telephone survey will be administered in the middle of June. In addition to the focus groups and interviews that have been conducted, this survey will extensively evaluate the campaign through the gathering of quantitative data.

MOST of Us Wear Seatbelts Campaign

* The third ad (“Protection and Safety”) was switched to a fourth ad (“Counting”) on May 26, 2003 on the radio stations where we have purchased media; the fourth ad will run for the remainder of the media buy till June 15, 2003. The “Protection and Safety” ad though will continue to run as a statewide PSA on donated air time until the end of the summer. Please contact me if you would like to know the specific media placement in you particular area in order to listen for the messages.
* Regarding the statewide traveling billboards, the one that was placed on Grand Avenue in Billings moved to Glasgow in the beginning of June.
* A point-in-time telephone survey for the occupant protection campaign will be conducted from June 01, 2003 to June 11, 2003. Similar to the DUI Campaign, this survey along with focus groups and key stakeholder interviews will be used to evaluate the campaign.

That’s it for June. Subsequent to this portion of the newsletter, you will find Lori and Carol’s featured activities. Once again, thank you Carol and Lori, and thank you all for your hard work and dedication to making each community a healthier and safer place to live.

Seetha

Update from Lori Posey and Carol Keaster, Cascade County SKSC

This year, Cascade County Safe Kids Safe Communities Program offered a seat belt competition to four rural high schools in our area. This idea was presented at a quarterly Safe Kids Safe Communities meeting by Lorrie Pozarick. Energy West donated $1000.00 to be distributed to the schools for participation in the project. We asked each school to choose a club or group to present the project and then receive a portion of the donation money. We had already conducted our own seat belt surveys and weeklong campaigns in each of the schools the year before so were aware of the seat belt use percentages already in place.

In the beginning, we prepared a notebook for each school with web-site information, crash dynamics, sample posters, NHTSA and DOT information all relating to seat belt use. They were instructed to begin the project with a pre-seat belt survey, conduct a campaign of their choosing for
two weeks, and finish the campaign with a post-seat belt survey. They had one week to finalize the results and to return their report to me. The following is a list of ideas that each school generated:
-One school’s freshman class posted flyers, sent home letters and daily announcements. They posted signs along the highway asking people to buckle-up. They showed a 26% increase after the two-week campaign.

-Another school hung posters, placed reader board messages and had daily announcements. The announcements were very creative and entertaining. The students also produced a video, which they played on their school’s news station. The video showed a car crashing into a school fence but the driver was unhurt as he was wearing a seat belt. This school showed a 37% increase in seat belt use.

-Our third rural school thoroughly researched the Internet and prepared classroom presentations for each grade. Each group of students took a specific grade and the presentations were all age appropriate. This school only showed a 7% increase in seat belt use but the material they prepared will continue to be used by some of the teachers in subsequent years.

-Finally, the winner of the project posted 100’s of flyers, many of which were their own design. The students wore fabricated seat belts during the school hours. They called an all school assembly and prepared a comical skit showing what happens when you don’t wear a seat belt. They included pictures, a video and detailed their entire campaign in an easy to read format and notebook. Their campaign showed an increase of 38.4%.

Each school received $200.00 for participating in the project. The winning school received a check for $300.00 and a pizza party. The kids had a blast participating in the project. They all indicated they would like to be involved again next year in another campaign.

In addition to the competition, we have received numerous calls from people asking to rent car seats for houseguests arriving at the airport. We do not have a loaner program so we try to advise people to travel with their own car seats. We have called Delta Airlines and were told by the agent that if you purchase a ticket you can have a child, under the age of two, ride on your lap. You are allowed two carry-on bags and they will check two bags. If you have a car seat this will count as one bag. We are aware that you can pay for additional bags but that can be quite costly (a round trip would cost you as much as a new car seat). Wouldn’t it be great if the airlines offered people with small children the ability to transport the children safely to and from the airport by either allowing car seats to be shipped free of charge or for a nominal fee? We have asked National Safe Kids to look into this issue. If anyone knows any additional information on this subject please bring it up at the next quarterly meeting or contact us at 454-6950 or nursing@co.cascade.mt.us.

Thanks, Carol Keaster and Lori Posey
Cascade County Safe Kids Safe Communities