Forest County Potawatomi Car Seat Safety Program

Summary

Impact Statement: 
The tribal health department used QI to increase the number of parents using car child seats correctly from 30 to 65% using new dramatic visual presentations and enhanced car safety seat installation demonstrations. This will save children’s lives and reduce auto related injuries.
Summary: 

The Forest County Potawatomi (FCP) Community Health Department has offered a Car Seat Safety Program in alignment with the Child Safety Restraints, Booster Seats, and Safety Belt Requirement, 2005 Wisconsin Act 106 since its enactment in June 2006. This law requires parents to use a progression of three car safety seats (rear-facing, forward-facing, and booster) for children who are 8 years or younger, 40 to 80 pounds, and no taller than 4’9”.

The program offers free car safety seats to FCP tribal members and offers personalized education through videos, hands-on demonstrations, and consultations. The program has experienced high participation rates over the years; however, informal data have suggested that tribal parents are not using distributed car safety seats properly, despite receiving education when meeting with FCP child passenger safety technicians.

Recent data have identified high rates of unintentional injuries, specifically traffic-related incidents, among the FCP tribe. Car seat safety is a critical component of protecting children on the roadways; therefore, the FCP Community Health Department thought it was necessary to examine the current Car Seat Safety Program to determine effectiveness and areas of improvement.

Organization that conducted the QI initiative: 
FCP Health & Wellness Center Community Health Department
Citation: 

Kuber, K. Public Health Quality Improvement Exchange. Forest County Potawatomi Car Seat Safety Program. Wed, 10/09/2013 - 13:39. Available at http://phqix.org/content/forest-county-potawatomi-car-seat-safety-program. Accessed March 28, 2024.

Submission Status: 
Completed
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Comments

Submitted by avaid on

Good QI measure. We will take lessons learned and improve our own program.

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Submitted by jbutlerassoc on

Using data collected from the Community Health Assessment provided an opportunity to study one of the more popular and successful programs offered by the Tribal Health Department. Which in turn led to an improvement in the proper installation and use of car seats. Good example of pre and post improvement data collection and analysis to confirm the change made resulted in an improvement.

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Grace Gorenflo's picture
Submitted by Grace Gorenflo on

Very compelling interventions were applied to increase the proper use of child safety seat -- thanks for sharing your successful solutions!

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