Quick Safety Seat Checkup

Does your child ride in the back seat? The back seat is generally the safest place in a crash. If your vehicle has a passenger air bag, it is essential for children 12 and under to ride in back.

Does your child ride facing the right way? Infants should ride in rear facing restraints, preferably in the back seat, until about age 1 and at least 20-22 lbs. Always read your child restraint owner manual for instructions on properly using the restraint. Children over age one and at least 20 pounds may ride facing forward.

Does the safety belt hold the seat tightly in place? Put the belt through the right slot. If your safety seat can be used facing either way, use the correct belt slots for each direction. The safety belt must stay tight when securing the safety seat. Check the vehicle owner’s manual for tips on using the safety belts.

Is the harness buckled snugly around your child? Keep the straps over your child’s shoulder. The harness should be adjusted so you can slip only one finger underneath the straps at your child’s chest. Place the chest clip at armpit level.

Does your child over 40 pounds have the best protection possible? Keep your child in a safety seat with a full harness as long as possible, at least until 40 pounds. Then use a belt-positioning booster seat which helps the adult lap and shoulder belt fit better. A belt-positioning booster seat is preferred for children between 40-80 pounds. It is used with the adult lap and shoulder belt. Check on special products for heavy children too active to sit still in a booster.

How should a safety belt fit an older child? The child must be tall enough to sit without slouching, with knees bent at the e3dge of the seat, with feet on the floor. The lap belt must fit low and tight across the upper thighs. The shoulder belt should rest over the shoulder and across the chest. Never put the shoulder belt under the arm or behind the child’s back. The adult lap and shoulder belt system alone will not fit most children until they are at least 4’9” tall and weigh about 80 pounds.

Walking and Biking Safety – Play it safe: walking and biking safely for toddlers and preschoolers

• Dangers for young children on the move: darting out into traffic from the middle of the block, playing in or near the street, riding a tricycle or bike in a parking lot, driveway, or street.
• Young children are NOT small adults. They move quickly and can run into the street without warning. They don’t know safety rules and expect adults to watch out for them. They are small and hard for drivers to see and they cannot judge speed or distance of vehicles moving toward them.

• Children hit by cars can be hurt or killed, even when cars are moving slowly. Toddlers are most often hurt by a backing vehicle. If a child is playing in a driveway or parking area, a driver may not see them. Preschoolers are most often hit when dashing across a street near home.
• Falls from tricycles or other play vehicles can cause serious head and brain injury. These injuries to young children can be as serious as injuries to older children falling from bikes. Parents and caregivers must watch toddlers and preschoolers closely when they are near parked or moving vehicles. To supervise properly, you must be near your child, not watching from a distance. Hold your child’s hand when you walk together along the street.
• Wearing a bike helmet is the most important way for your child to stay safe on a play vehicle, tricycle, or bike. A helmet can reduce the risk of head injury by 85 percent when worn correctly. Toddler helmets are lightweight, because a toddler’s neck is not strong enough for a regular helmet. Also, these helmets come down low around the back of the head for more coverage.
• Insist that your child wear a helmet whenever they ride. If your child’s preschool uses tricycles, work with the school to make helmets available. Urge the school to have a policy requiring helmet use.
• Never carry a baby under age one on a bicycle. A baby does not have the neck strength to wear a helmet. Her back is not strong enough to sit straight with the motion of the bike. When a child is old enough to ride on an adult’s bike, only a skilled rider should carry him. Ride only in safe areas like parks, bike paths, or quiet streets. Make sure both adult and child wear properly fitting helmets. Make sure the child carrier has a high back, a lap and shoulder harness, and foot guards to keep feet away from the spokes. Make sure the carrier is fastened firmly to the bike. Buckle the harness snugly around the child.

Swimming and Diving Safety

• Never leave a child unsupervised near a pool.
• Instruct babysitters about potential hazards to your children in and around swimming pools and the need for constant supervision.
• Do not consider young children “drowning proof” because they have had swimming lessons; young children should always be watched carefully while swimming.
• Do not use flotation devices as a substitute for supervision.
• Never use a pool with its pool cover in place, since children may become entrapped under it.
• Place tables and chairs well away from the pool fence to prevent children from climbing into the pool area.
• Keep toys away from the pool area because a young child playing with the toys could accidentally fall in the water.
• Have a telephone at poolside to avoid having to leave children unattended in or near the pool to answer a telephone elsewhere. Keep emergency numbers at the poolside telephone.

Diving injuries can result in quadriplegia, paralysis below the neck, to divers who hit the bottom or side of a swimming pool. Divers should observe the following precautions:

• Never dive into above-ground pools. They are too shallow.
• Don’t dive from the side of an in-ground pool. Enter the water feet first.
• Dive only from the end of the diving board and not from the sides.
• Dive with your hands in front of you and always steer up immediately upon entering the water to avoid hitting the bottom or sides of the pool.
• Don’t dive if you have been using alcohol or drugs because your reaction time may be too slow.
• Important use of pool slides presents the same danger as improper diving techniques. Never slide down head first-slide down feet first only.

The Ohio Department of Health Adult Hepatitis Vaccination Project

Shelby Home and Public Health in partnership with the Ohio Department of Health will provide Hepatitis A and B vaccine to clients who have no ability to pay as long as they meet the criteria listed below.

Eligibility:
The free vaccine is for adults, ages 19 or older, who fall into one or more of the followingcategories:
1. Present in settings in which a high portion of adults have risks of HBV infection.
2. Have identified high-risk behavior(s) that put them at risk for HBV

The following listing below describes who is eligible to recieve the free vaccine through this program.

Hepatitis B

• Clients presenting at STD clinics, whether or not they have an STD
• Clients presenting at HIV counseling and testing sites, whether or not they have HIV
• Clients at drug abuse and prevention settings
• Clients served at health-care settings targeting services to injection users
• Clients served at health-care settings targeting services to men who have sex with men
• Inmates at correctional facilities
• Persons infected with Hepatitus C virus
• HIV positive persons
• Contacts of HBV positive clients that are not covered under the Perinatal HBV Prevention Program
• Clients with multiple sex partners
• Clients in group homes
• Sexual contacts of STD and HIV positive persons
• Family planning clients requesting STD services
• Homeless persons
• Sex workers
• Asians screened for HBV at screening events sponsored by Ohio Asian organizations who are not infected with HBV and not immune HBV (with referral card)

• Clients with chronic Hepatitis B or C
• Clients with HIV
• Men who have sex with men
• Current illicit drug users (includes those in substance abuse treatment programs but it does NOT include marijuana users in the absence of other illicit drug use.