SafeKids Cleveland County has helped install lifejacket stations at five key points around the county to help prevent drownings, held medicine drops to prevent potentially lethal medications from falling into the hands of children or teens, safely installed car seats for countless families and provided bicycle helmets for kids.
For three decades, they have saved lives through evidence-based programs.
But all of that is in danger of going away.
The state-wide coalition, led by N.C. Department of Insurance – Office of the State Fire Marshal, which provides staff, operation support and other resources, was cut from the N.C. House budget passed at the end of May.
Kelly Ransdell, former director of SafeKids North Carolina and who still serves on an advisory committee, said SafeKids was started over 30 years ago.
Officials from SafeKids Cleveland County, Broad River Greenway, Atrium Health, Albemarle and area Law Enforcement first responders at the dedication of the new Life Jacket Loaner Stations at the Broad River Greenway.
“The whole mission of it is to prevent unintentional injuries from 0 to 18,” she said. “I was the former director, and I saw first hand how we are able to reach communities and provide resources.”
She said it was a state level program that supported local efforts, “which is really where the magic happens,” Ransdell said.
She said there was no discussion with staff before the budget was passed about what they do and the impact of the program.
“It was never asked, what do these folks do? We could have provided good information to inform the decisions,” she said. “It doesn’t help our state to do away with things like this because they do so much work everywhere.”
Ransdell said the program works with local fire departments and others to help provide training and resources across all injury areas.
She said they have a small staff of around five people in addition to administrative support.
Ransdell said staff go out into the field and work with county level coalitions and directly with fire departments. Recently, fire department staff went door to door on Smoke Alarm Saturday to canvassed houses and put in smoke alarms from the Fire Marshall’s Office where needed. Training fire departments and healthcare workers on proper car seat installation is another huge piece of the program.
“That little tiny staff leverages injury prevention all across the state,” she said. “We have the best program in the nation. I’m so proud of the work that was started years ago and continues. It’s catastrophic to imagine that going away.”
Ransdell said most of the work done is grant funded.
“They have the positions and benefits paid for by the state, but a lot of the program is from grants they apply for and pass down,” she said.
Ransdell said it is an evidence-based program which uses data to study where, how and what ages injuries are occurring. For example, she said the majority of fire fatalities in North Carolina are coming from older adults, so a program called Steps to Safety was created.
“They’re doing work all across the spectrum,” she said.
The impact is huge and has been felt all across the state, including in Cleveland County.
“I would doubt that there is a family that hasn’t been effected by a smoke alarm program or car seat programs,” Ransdell said.
She said they need people talking to local representatives and legislatures about the program.
“We need people talking to folks that have the ability to save it,” she said. “No one could look at this and say this is great for North Carolina, this is catastrophic for us to do away with the heartbeat of those programs. The locals depend on the state and that’s the best part of this, it really is a partnership to save lives.”
Violet Arth, who serves on the Shelby City Council, said she learned about SafeKids potentially being cut when she recently attended the N.C. League of Municipalities conference.
“They give out free car seats and do car seat checks,” Arth said. “They do training and certify all the firemen in Shelby and all over the entire state and hospital employees to safely install car seats into cars. Without that there is no one doing that service in the state of North Carolina at all.”
She said it is also education, outreach and providing services to people who might not be able to afford it.
Arth said she personally has benefitted from the program and when her daughter was young and in daycare, she went to pick her up there was a SafeKids drive through car-seat check to see if children’s car seats were safely installed.
“Unbeknownst to me, Scarlett was an inch over the height for her seat,” she said.
They instantly took out the old seat and installed a new one that was the correct size for free.
There is an evidence sheet about the program available on the SafeKids website, and it includes statistics and benefits.
Shelby Fire Chief William Hunt traveled to Raleigh to advocate for the program, and Arth hopes other people, once they learn it is in danger, will also speak up to save it.
“It’s also important to note that no budgets have been approved yet, now is the time to call and say ‘hey, this is important to me, we don’t want it to be cut,'” Arth said.
At the corner of Dekalb and Warren streets is a somber memorial. A teddy bear is attached to a tree on the corner of the street where a 16-month-old child fell out of a moving vehicle and died in 2017. The little girl was in her car seat, but it wasn’t properly installed.
“Right in our little town we had an instance where this could have been prevented, and we can help keep it from happening again if more people know about the program and if the program doesn’t go away,” Arth said.
For more information, visit the SafeKids website at safekids.org.
This article originally appeared on The Shelby Star: Program centered on injury prevention cut from N.C. House budget