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Center Happenings |
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Monday, September
12, 2011
OMCA Golf Tournament
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McCarty
Center Hosts Free Child Car Safety Seat Check
The J. D. McCarty
Center in cooperation with Safe Kids Oklahoma
and the Norman Police Department will be hosting
a free child car seat and booster seat safety
check on Saturday, February 10, from 2:00 p.m.
to 5:00 p.m. at the McCarty Center located at
2002 East Robinson in Norman. The car seat check
will be the culmination of a four-day course to
train new child passenger safety technicians from
the McCarty Center and the Norman community.
According to
Michelle Carr, McCarty Center physical therapist
and certified child passenger safety technician,
eight out of ten child car seats are not used
or installed properly. "The whole purpose
of this free safety seat check is to educate parents
and ensure that the seats are installed correctly,
that the seat is compatible with the vehicle it's
being used in and that the child fits correctly
in the seat," Carr explained.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, child safety seats or booster
seats should be used with children from birth
up to 80 pounds in size. The ideal location for
the safety seat is in the middle of the back seat
away from passenger air bags. Infants must be
placed in a rear facing safety car seat until
at least age one and 20 pounds in size.
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of
death for children age four to 15. During 2004,
there were 1,859 children from birth to 15 killed
in passenger vehicle crashes. About 53% of these
children were unrestrained in their vehicles.
Also in 2004, an average of five children from
birth to 15 were killed and 646 were injured every
day in motor vehicle crashes.
"The use of child safety seats reduces the
need for hospitalization after a motor vehicle
crash by 69 percent," says Carr. "Because
of the proven effectiveness of child safety seats
when properly used and installed this free safety
check should be of interest to all parents and
caregivers transporting young children. After
all their children are their most precious cargo."
The J. D. McCarty Center is Oklahoma's center
of excellence in the care and treatment of children
with developmental disabilities from birth to
21. Founded 60 years ago, the McCarty Center only
treated one diagnosis…cerebral palsy. Today,
the McCarty Center has treated more than 70 different
diagnoses in the developmental disability category.
In an average year, the McCarty Center will see
children from 70 of Oklahoma's 77 counties.
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