City of Columbus, GA Columbus Connection, 6 Dec 2022

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From YouTube: Columbus Connections - Pam Fair

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Pam Fair, Director of Safe Kids Columbus tells us more about what they're doing this holiday season to make sure all kids stay safe and healthy.

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Coming up on Columbus connection, are you looking for a place to donate that goes specifically to kids to help keep them safe? Well, you've come to the right place, stay tuned for more information.

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Welcome to Columbus connection I am your host David Britt and again we are in the holiday season, happy holidays to you. We always wish people a happy and safe holiday right. A lot of children are out they're out of school they're traveling, sometimes accidents happen also during the holiday season. You're looking often for a place to donate, to help to give away well what better place than a way to keep Kids Safe And. There are so many great organizations in Columbus in this area.

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There are some places that have needs that you may not have thought of. So this is what we're talking about today and I have with me, Miss Pam, Fair who's with the safe kids through Piedmont and she's, going to tell us about where we can donate to help keep Kids Safe. Welcome to the show Pam.

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All right, thanks for having me thank.

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You for being here, you have a great organization like I, said: there's one thing about our area: there's a lot of philanthropy there's a lot of giving but Safe Kids. It doesn't get any better than wanting to keep our children safe. Absolutely.

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Us about Safe Kids, so.

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Safe Kids basically came about because there was a trauma surgeon who was just so tired of seeing kids coming in, who were hurt and they didn't have to be. They were seriously hurt, sometimes lifelong injuries or perhaps some die so say kids exist. To prevent accidental injuries in kids and Piedmont is the lead Agency for Safe, Kids, Columbus and so I work for Piedmont, and we run an organization where we watch to see what brings kids into our Hospital.

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What's hurting our children in this region, and then we put together programs to help those in most need to have those safety devices that they need to keep their kids safe. Gotcha.

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Tell me a little bit more about what type of safety devices do you all provide.

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So I watched to see what comes into our emergency room and I kind of categorize those in a top mechanisms of injury. So typically we see motor vehicle crashes, a top injury, suffocating babies. Suffocated babies, unfortunately, is another issue where babies are not in a safe sleep, environment and so they've been accidentally suffocated. We also see a poisonings where kids get into medications that usually causes a child to be admitted to the hospital and not just an emergency room visit.

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We have drownings that we see because we have a beautiful River, but we do have drownings, so we provide life jackets, and so all of these things have their specific safety gear.

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So many things that are accidental and so many things that are preventable absolutely.

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And it's so hard to see a parent go through that tragedy of losing a child and realizing this didn't have to have to happen to my child. I could have prevented that and so we're here to help with that got.

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You, and so we talked a little bit before we started, and we talked about you know those accidental supplications, where the baby is sleeping with the parent and just overnight. That happens right.

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Does Safe Kids step in to help prevent those type of things so.

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We have an education program, so if you need let's say you need a place for your baby to sleep. That's separate from your from your from the adult bed. We're going to teach you a little bit about safe sleep and an online course. You can join us right on your phone.

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You don't have to come to a class, so we have the online class and then there's a drive-through pickup, so you'll drive through the date and time and then we'll provide you with the pack and play and of course this is for families who meet our eligibility requirements.

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Our process to apply is so simple, it's so easy and we even have a QR code. Now that you can just take a picture on your phone, it takes you right up to our very simple application. You fill in your information and then we get back with you to let you know if you've been accepted and when the classes will be. We also have a car seat program, that's very similar to that one.

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We provide car seats to low income families, families who don't have the means to purchase a car seat, perhaps you're enrolled in Medicaid or WIC or Peach State or you've lost your job. You can tell us those things and then we'll see if you apply a qualify for our program, we have class online and then the drive-through pickup with a car seat. We actually show you how to use the car seat and then, when you put it in your car, we check to make sure you have it installed correctly. Wow.

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So save kids that you all look in this area and see what are the specific needs of this area as far as preventable? You know child accidents and you all looked not just to provide resources resources but to also educate to prevent those from happening.

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If we don't, if we don't, if we don't use a safety device correctly, then what have we really done yeah? So we want to make sure that that child is facing the correct direction in the car that the baby is in the separate sleep environment- maybe perhaps right up next to mom or dad's bed, so that they're close by there, it's okay to be in the same room, but not necessarily in the same bed or putting the baby to sleep on a soft couch or baby gets.

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Down so those types of things happen, but we also provide Community programs where we give away bike helmets to kids in the community who are going to be outside riding their bikes, because we see head injuries in our hospital. We provide life, jacket, loaner stations in the community because we see drownings in our community. So we want to help our community to be safe, so they can stay in the game, be out there and enjoy their life right.

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Now this part of the end of the year is usually when a lot of people are looking for ways to donate. Looking for ways to give yes and one good thing about Safe Kids is every dollar that they donate goes specifically to meeting that need.

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Absolutely so the setup with Safe Kids is very unique, but it's an amazing setup. Piedmont has signed on to be the lead agency, so they provide me with office space computers, phones. My position is paid for by Piedmont, not so when people give to Safe Kids they're, actually helping me go straight to our budget, so we budget those items in and we do need help. I need help to be able to continue to provide car seats and bike elements and all these great things to the community. They have gone up in recent years.

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The prices have just they are they're a lot and so I'm reaching out, because I do need help, and so our our website has a great new way to give, and it's so simple and easy, with the range of of things that you can donate toward whether it be a pedestrian reflector that we can help put on a child's backpack, because we've had a child pedestrian hit and killed in our in our community as it can be as simple as that or it can be.

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You want to purchase a car seat and they're about a hundred and three dollars, so there's a range there that you can get involved and you can help us continue to help the families that are most in need. How.

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Can people reach you so.

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The best way to do it is to go to our website column, Safe, Kids, Columbus ga.org. You can also find us on Facebook Safe, Kids Columbus GA, and we have a campaign called and they live safely. Ever After, because we read.

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Our kids books.

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And it always says they lived happily ever after, but I believe if they're happy they're safe and so they live safely, Ever After, that's what we're after so we want to help do that, and so you can click on that link right there on our website or right there on Facebook, and it will take you to the list and then you just click on which one you want to participate in and donate.

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That's amazing so again during this holiday season, of course remember to keep those around you safe and let's keep our roads our areas, our home safe. But if you're looking for a place or if you see something unfortunate that happens on the news- and you say why isn't somebody out there helping or how can we make it's a safer place for our kids? Well, that is just that. Safe Kids! Please, look in the safe kids!

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Please consider making that donation, because all everything that you donate goes directly to keeping kids safe thanks for watching have a happy end safe holiday. This is Columbus connections, foreign.