Trauma Services Community Outreach and Prevention
Project C.A.R.G.O. (Communities Addressing Responsible Gun Ownership) continues to be a success in the Polk County Schools this year. The program is presented at parent/teacher organization meetings at the elementary and middle school levels. The partnership formed between LRMC's trauma program, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and the Polk County School System focuses on responsible gun ownership and child safety. The format facilitates and encourages a family atmosphere, generating discussion on handgun safety between the children and their parents. After completion of a program evaluation each family receives a free trigger lock for their personal use. The evaluations have been consistently positive and indicate that participants will change their behavior as a result of information presented at this program.
CAUTION, a safety awareness board game produced by the American Trauma Society, was purchased by the Trauma Program and implemented in all fourth grade classrooms in the Polk County School System in 2002. One hundred games were purchased, demonstrated and distributed to all school Injury Prevention liaisons. The game is included in all fourth grade injury prevention modules and remains an integral part of the Injury Prevention modules at that level.
On April 18, 2006, The Not So Perfect Prom video and program was presented to the junior and senior class members of Lakeland Senior High School. The program, made possible by a partnership between the LSHS Student Council and the Coalition on Injury Prevention, culminated in a very dramatic and realistic depiction of several high school students involved in a car crash as a result of drinking and driving on prom night. In the video, one student was killed and one was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. One student, known to everyone at her school for accomplishments and scholarships in sports activities, was paralyzed. One particularly dramatic scene, filmed in the trauma bay at LRMC, was that of the Trauma Surgeon telling this young woman's mother that she would never walk again. During the assembly, the students were asked to sign a "Promise Card," stating they would not use alcohol or drugs on prom night.
National SafeKids® Chapter of Polk County, established in 2004, continues to be very active. The chapter membership is growing and many events for child injury prevention were planned and implemented for the community this past year. A key area of prevention identified as having a need in Polk County involved drowning prevention, which prompted the first April Pool's Day event at the Lakeland YMCA on April 1, 2006. Also, Kohl's retail store partnered with Florida Suncoast SafeKids Coalition to provide Designated Child Watcher Badges for distribution in Polk County. Over 800 badges were distributed to adults, along with water and pool safety education at the Back to School Bash in Polk County in July of 2006. Additional injury prevention events often focus on Child Passenger Safety Seat Checks for proper installation since statistically 4 out of 5 car seats are not installed properly. Multiple agencies attended with injury prevention presentations and displays.
