Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas –
Family advocacy program nurses from throughout the Air Force learned how to educate their families about choosing and installing child safety seats for their vehicles during a four-day-long conference last week.
Some 200 family advocacy nurses and officers from 75 sites worldwide traveled to the Drury Plaza Hotel Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio June 1-4 for the training conference, which featured a variety of topics, from recognition of child abuse and safe patient care to social work ethics and infant and toddler nutrition.
Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph's child passenger safety education program had a prominent role during the conference as Connie Wilson, 359th Medical Operations Squadron family advocacy assistant, led the session on child safety seats along with Cynthia Cusimano, 31st Medical Operations Squadron family advocacy nurse at Aviano Air Base, Italy.
Wilson and Cusimano, who are both certified child passenger safety instructors and technicians, briefed the family advocacy nurses on selecting and installing the right seats for young children, informed them of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's 4 Steps 4 Kids program and guided them through a hands-on session to learn how to properly install a child passenger safety seat.
They also discussed one of the consequences of not providing child passengers with adequate protection.
"Crashes are the leading cause of death in children 15 and under," Wilson said. "
"That's huge. It's not pneumonia, it's not chicken pox, it is vehicle crashes."
Wilson said crashes are also the major cause of traumatic brain injury.
"Because when there is a crash, what moves forward rapidly?" she asked.
Wilson urged nurses to provide parents - especially expectant mothers - with information about the 4 Steps 4 Kids program, which promotes the correct use of child safety seats at different stages in children's development, from rear- and forward-facing seats in the first years of their lives to belt-positioning booster seats as they grow older.
Wilson stressed the importance of using rear-facing child safety seats for younger children because crash forces are distributed away from a child's head.
"Please keep in mind that as long as your baby is traveling rear-facing, they are traveling the safest of any one in the vehicle," she said.
Cusimano told nurses that parents need not buy the most expensive child safety seat.
"You want to make sure you get one that is actually certified, one that is not recalled, which is a big thing, and one that's going to fit your kid," she said.
Cusimano said parents should also know the height and weight limit of the car seat and choose one that fits in their vehicles and is easy to use.
Wilson also emphasized the importance of the nurses' role in providing parents with the correct information "so that the car seat is the least of their worries."
"Those first three years of life are imperative when it comes to car seat safety," she said. "If you give them that information the first time you visit with them, it will stay with them. If they have their baby in the right car seat, the right position and the right install the first ride home from the hospital, I promise you that baby's going to ride safely for the rest of their car seat life."
The training conference featured individual sessions for nurses and officers as well as joint sessions for all attendees.
Officers were briefed on topics such as new directions in outreach and prevention, supervision of general schedule employees and contractors, and domestic abuse victim services.
"Family advocacy officers are the ones who are lead the family advocacy programs at all 75 main operating bases around the world," Lt. Col. Christopher Patrick, Air Force Family Advocacy Program chief, said. "This is our opportunity to train them on various aspects of running the program, focused on risk, maltreatment, clinical support and management."
Meg Walker, JBSA New Parent Support Program manager, said family advocacy nurses provide supportive services to military families, helping them build healthier relationships.
"We want parents to understand the growth and development of their children and help them adapt to being parents," she said. "We want families to become healthier families."
In addition to learning about child passenger safety, nurses participated in sessions devoted to topics such as autism spectrum disorders, nutrition, general pediatrics and breast-feeding.