Safe Kids

It is often overlooked that unintentional injuries or “accidents” are the number one killer of children. As a leader in children’s health in our community, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital is the host agency for the local coalition: Safe Kids San Mateo/Santa Clara County. Packard Children's Hospital provides the coalition coordination and the meeting site. This coalition consists of  parents, law enforcement, health professionals, firefighters, business leaders and others working to reduce the number of unintentional injuries to children in our community by providing prevention education, activities and events.

Safe Kids Worldwide is a global network of organizations whose mission is to prevent accidental childhood injury, a leading killer of children 14 and under. Safe Kids San Mateo/ Santa Clara County is one of more than 450 coalitions worldwide working in 16 different countries.

 

Community Outreach

Safe Kids San Mateo/ Santa Clara County works with other safety minded individuals and organizations to increase community awareness by participating in local health and safety fairs, National Child Passenger Safety and Safe Kids week, car seat check-up events, bike safety education and much more. We also serve as a resource to community members and professionals working to reduce childhood unintentional injuries. To learn more about our community classes and events, please visit our classes page.   The coalition holds bi-monthly meetings at which the group decides upon future goals and activities and hears from speakers on a number of child safety topics.  The coordinator facilitates these meetings.

Contact Us

For additional information about Safe Kids San Mateo/ Santa Clara County, how to join your local coalition or with questions about childhood safety, please call (650) 724-1788 or e-mail barias@stanfordchildrens.org.

Learn More

Coalition Members, Agencies and Supporters
The public and community agencies below support Safe Kids San Mateo/Santa Clara County and their communities’ effort in childhood injury prevention projects, including child passenger safety, gun lock distribution, bike helmet fitting, burn prevention and many more.

San Mateo County Public Agencies

• Belmont Police Department
• Brisbane Police Department
• Burlingame Fire Department
• Daly City Police Department
• East Palo Alto Police Department
• Foster City Police Department
• Menlo Park Fire District
• Millbrae Police Department
• San Bruno Police Department
• San Mateo County Health Department
• San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office
• Redwood City CHP
• South San Francisco Fire Department
• Woodside Fire Protection District

Santa Clara County Public Agencies

• Campbell Police Department
• Gilroy Police Department
• Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford
• Santa Clara County Fire Department
• Santa Clara County Health Department
• Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department
• Santa Clara Valley Medical Center
• Stanford Health Care
• Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety

Top Five Things that Make a Safe Kid

 Safe Kids San Mateo/Santa Clara County offers this list of top five things that make a Safe Kid:

1. Always use safety belts and child safety seats. Child safety seats, when correctly installed and used, significantly reduce the risk of injury and death. Booster seats are required for children up to six years or 60 pounds. For the safest ride, Safe Kids recommends keeping children in an appropriate seat up to eight years and 80 pounds. 
2. Always wear an approved bike helmet on every ride. Bicycle helmets reduce the risk of head injuries by 85%.
3. Always swim with parent or adult supervision and use the proper safety equipment for water recreation. Drowning is still the second leading cause of unintentional injury-related death to children ages 1 to 14.
4. Always have working smoke alarms. Install detectors in common areas as well as escape routes and check batteries monthly. When properly used, working smoke detectors reduce the chance of dying in a fire by 50%.
5. Always practice safe pedestrian behaviors on the road. Walk in groups, on a safe, well lighted route. Remember vehicles on the road are not always looking for walker traffic. Have a destination in mind and always let a parent know where you are going.

Trainings and Classes

Safe Kids San Mateo/Santa Clara County offers several training and recertification classes to train individuals to become car seat fitting technicians.

• Child Passenger Safety (CPS) 32 hour Technician Training
  The national standardized child passenger safety technician certification course is usually four to five days long and combines classroom instruction, hands-on work with car seats and vehicles, and a community safety seat checkup event, where students demonstrate proper use and installation of child restraints and safety belts and then teach these skills to parents. Successful completion of this course certifies the individual as a CPS technician for two years.

• Child Passenger Safety (CPS) Technician Refresher Course
  The CPS refresher course offers current CPS technicians a chance to update their technical skills with new seat education, equipment updates and new legislation review. CPS refresher courses are scheduled locally with your Safe Kids San Mateo/ Santa Clara County Coalition. For more information, call (650) 724-1788.

• Child Passenger Safety (CPS) Technician Recertification Course
  This one-day course is available for technicians and instructors whose certifications have expired as an alternative to retaking the certification course. It was designed for formerly certified individuals who have maintained their child passenger safety knowledge and their hands-on skills. It is not intended to be a shortened version of the Certification course.

• Child Passenger Safety (CPS) Awareness Training for Law Enforcement, Hospital Staff and Child Care Staff

All awareness classes are individually tailored for your group or organization. Contact your local Safe Kids coordinator at (650) 724-1788 for more information.

• Safe Kids USA