The grant agreement was approved by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, allowing the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency to accept the two-year funding from OTS totaling $170,000.

This money will go toward a community car seat program called Keep Baby Safe, which is currently coordinated by HSA in partnership with area hospitals. The 10-year-old program aims to improve child passenger safety by educating parents on proper car seat usage and increasing the percentage of children riding in car seats.

With so many different child restraint systems, belt systems and passenger vehicles, knowing how to use a car seat can be challenging, said Heather Duvall, HSA’s health promotions manager.

“Sometimes people don’t really know how much car seats can protect their children,” she said.

According to a 1996 car seat check-up done by the program, out of a 379 cars surveyed, 27 percent did not have their children in car seats, said Duvall.

This is compared to their most recent survey done in 2001, which showed that out of 175 cars checked, eight percent did not have their children in car seats. Of the 92 percent that did have car seats, only 7 percent used them correctly.

Duvall believes the results are in part due to the program and the overall increased community awareness of child passenger safety.

The Keep Baby Safe program offers a 90 minute class, which is free and open to the public. The class covers correct usage of car seats, understanding the law and a demonstration of different car seats.

It also provides information about LATCH (lower anchors and tethers for children), a system mandated by the federal government in an effort to standardize and simplify the installation of child restraints without using the car’s seat belt system. LATCH is required on most child safety seats and vehicles manufactured after Sept. 1.

For those families who meet income eligibility requirements, the Keep Baby Safe program offers a car seat voucher, which can be purchased for $25 at the completion of the class. This voucher can then be used toward the purchase of a new car seat, which can range from $50 to $75 on the low end.

Another goal of the program is to increase the number of health and community professionals trained in child passenger safety who have access to parents with small children.

“We need to do more training with people who can potentially train other parents how to properly use car seats,” said Duvall.

Car seat safety classes are available through the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency’s main office on Scenic Drive in Modesto, the Ceres medical office, the Medical Arts building, the McHenry medical office in Modesto and the Turlock medical office.

It is also available through the Doctors Medical Center Foundation, the Memorial Medical Center, Oak Valley District Hospital and Emanuel Medical Center.

For professionals who would like to receive training on child passenger safety, an eight-hour class in Modesto is scheduled for Oct. 10. For information on how to register for this class and other Keep Baby Safe classes, call 558-5656.

Reprinted by permission of the Turlock Journal.