Hospital Promotes Car Seat Safety Program

DANBURY -- Fairfield County Safe Kids Coalition reports that the State of Connecticut has a 90 percent misuse rate for car seat installation.  To help reverse that statistic, Danbury Hospital has been running a Car Seat Program for families who have their babies at the hospital’s Family Birth Center.

In place for the past six years, it begins with nurses explaining how to properly fit the car seats into vehicles. For those who need additional assistance, a certified child passenger safety technician is available to provide “hands on” help.

The driving force behind the hospital’s comprehensive Car Seat Program has been Doris Peltz, supervisor of the Family Birth Center’s maternal care technicians. After taking the training herself, Ms Peltz became so impassioned with the program that she made sure that others also were trained.

“We currently have eight certified technicians who can demonstrate proper techniques using the child’s car seat in a ‘Dial-A-Belt’ -- an actual vehicle seat we received from Fairfield County Safe Kids,” said Ms Peltz. “This has proven very helpful in getting our families more comfortable installing it on their own.”

The hospital’s car seat safety technicians are trained through Fairfield County Safe Kids, and satisfactory completion of the course meets the criteria for child passenger safety technician certification through the National Safe Kids Campaign. It’s a four-day, hands-on course that takes participants through the rigors of installing many different seats in many different types of cars.

Ms Peltz said she works closely with the fathers to make sure they understand how to install the car seats, and emphasizes the importance of reading the instruction manual before installation. She notes the biggest challenge is in helping families who have a language barrier but here, too, she succeeds.

“It’s a passion of mine to make sure everyone is safe,” she says, adding that she volunteers at car seat clinics around the Danbury area. “Although I’m not permitted to do the actual installation myself at the hospital, I work with the families until I’m sure they’ve got it right. Outside of work, I’ve even gone so far as to stop people in parking lots to make sure their car seats are properly installed.” 

Her passion for car seat safety goes beyond just performing the task, according to Jack S. C. Fong, MD, chairman of Danbury Hospital’s Department of Pediatrics. “She suggested the Dial-a-Belt testing system to provide caregivers with hands-on experience in properly restraining their children in car seat safety belts.  This Danbury original is now used extensively in many centers throughout the nation,” Dr Fong said.

Danbury Hospital offered child seat safety tips at its Programs for Parents series, which kicked off on December 7. The car seat component of the program will be led by Fairfield County Safe Kids with assistance from Doris. Programs for Parents is a unique series of six classes that offer prenatal and early parenting education to families in the Danbury community. For more information, call 203-739-6877.

“We want to make sure that every newborn going home from Danbury Hospital has a safe car ride,” Ms Peltz said. “But, our Car Seat Program is just one reason to have a baby here.

“It’s a great place because a mother can have whatever kind of birth she wants – from holistic to high tech,” she adds, noting that she fulfills another passion by working as a doula on weekends in the Family Birth Center. “We go beyond labor and delivery to provide an experience that is high quality and all encompassing,” she said.