EMSC and Ride Safe… a child passenger safety program

The EMSC Resource Center has partnered with the Bemidji Area Indian Health Services Regional Injury Prevention Specialist, Diana Kuklinski and White Earth Environmental Health Officer, Chris Allen, to promote "Ride Safe". The program has been implemented on three reservations within Minnesota: Fond du Lac, Grand Portage, and White Earth reservations. EMSC has purchased 267 seats for the White Earth Indian Health Center, Fond du Lac, and Grand Portage Head Start programs, which were distributed to the Head Start program families. Funds from Children's Foundation were used to purchase the boosters seats.

The Ride Safe Program was developed for American 'Indian and Alaska Native communities to increase child safety seat usage, thus reducing motor vehicle crash injuries in children. Ride Safe is currently supported financially and with in-kind contributions from several organizations who's goals are directly related to Ride Safe objectives. The EMSC Resource Center along with the Indian Health Service Head Start Programs, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Health Resources and Services Administration, have been partners in this project. Since the start of the program in FY2003 the following major accomplishments have been achieved:

1. Developed curriculum, tracking forms and evaluation surveys/instruments;
2. Thirteen Ride Safe Program sites participated in a one-day coordinator-training workshop;
3. Over 1,600 Head Start Center families have been reached with Ride Safe educational activities;
4. Over 1,100 children were provided child safety seats;
5. Implemented the Ride Safe program at Fourteen Tribal Health Start Programs;
6. Thirty two percent of Bemidji Area Tribes with Head Starts have participated in the Ride Safe Program; and
7. Enhancement of community CPS capacity building, including development of CPS coalitions.

Evaluation of the Ride Safe Program has included an observational component, a process evaluation, and a knowledge/ skills assessment. The University of North Carolina through a contractual relationship with the Indian Health Services Bemidji Area Office conducted the evaluation of the Ride Safe Program. Overall, restraint use increased dramatically from 37.8 percent of observed children prior to implementing the Ride Safe Program to 69 percent after the program began. Children observed at Head Start Centers were as likely as those observed at other community sites to be restrained during the pretest period. There is some indication that restraint use increased to a greater extent at Head Start Centers than at other community sites and brought about a convergence of use rates between the two age groups since the percentage of restraint use increased to a greater extent for toddlers than infants. Infants are more likely than toddlers to be observed restrained in both the pretest and posttest periods.

With a federal focus on the integration of EMSC programs with Indian Health Services initiatives, Chris Allen, White Earth, presented at the 2004 EMSC Grantee meeting and at the 2004 Heartland Regional Symposium. In addition, the summary of Year II Observational Child Safety Seat Usage was developed by University of North Carolina for Indian Health Bemidji Area Staff to use in an abstract submitted to the Indian Health Services "Healthier Indian Communities Through Partnerships and Prevention Summit" held in Washington, DC. September 2004. We are in further discussion to partner with Indian Health Services to offer BELSS to the reservations in 2005.