Safety town hits road bump
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Seventy-two children will graduate from the 20-hour safety education program Safety Town at Corse Elementary School today, but they could be the last.
The Southeast Iowa Safe Kids coalition, which organizes and funds Safety Town each year, will be without a lead organization to call home when Great River Medical Center terminates its involvement with the coalition’s injury prevention programs July 31.
For now, the Safe Kids coalition is seeking a new sponsor. Without one, it won’t be able to write grant requests and can no longer exist under the umbrella of Washington-based Safe Kids Worldwide.
The cut also will eliminate Jeanette Fry’s position at the hospital as Community Health Educator and Southeast Iowa Safe Kids coordinator. She works 30 hours a week, spending much of that time writing grants and organizing children safety events and programs. Right now, there are more than $10,500 worth of grants in jeopardy if a new lead organization is not found.
“The hospital has been good over the years,” Fry said. “All the people who work with safe kids are very passionate. We work nights and weekends.”
Safe Kids has provided car seat check-ups, the Safety Town preschool program, Safe Kids Day, Home Alone Rangers, the Fire Safety House, bicycle helmets and rodeos, and the Walk This Way pedestrian safety program. In total, the programs reached about 4,000 children in the Southeast Iowa Community last year.
Although the hospital pays Fry’s salary, about $35,800 a year with benefits, the rest of the Safe Kids programs are funded through grants requested by Fry.
GRMC also is cutting its participation in the Nest program, which provides pregnant women with food and baby clothes if they attend parent education courses offered there.
Nest coordinator Karen Erickson said the program will not lose any of the grants that fund it. The organization will have to find a new grant writer, however, since GRMC provided Fry as the grant writer.
“We are grateful to have received $2,000 from the GRMC Endowment Foundation, and this decision from GRMC to reallocate time and money will not have an effect on the Nest program and its yearly application for the endowment money,” said Nest business administrator Melissa Jacobs.
GRMC spokesman Craig Borchard said the cuts were made to focus on internal education for the clinical staff, which is needed after the recent growth of the hospital. Six new physicians will start work this summer, and the number of employees has increased from 1,050 in 1997 to more than 1,800 today. A new $3.5 million hospice house also is in the works.
“It’s not an issue we’ve had with Safe Kids,” he said. “We are just focusing our resources internally.”
Sgt. Steve Parker, with the Des Moines County Sheriff’s office, said he is puzzled as to why the program is being cut. He’s been with it since it was started 10 years ago, continually educating children about road and seat belt safety.
“Every program we have done has been well received,” he said.
The Safety Town program, which teaches road and stranger safety to preschoolers, is so popular that registration spots are limited to 72 kids per summer.
“What’s the price of a child’s life?” Parker said. “It’s unfortunate we don’t have any statistics on many lives have been saved. If we can save one life, it is worth it.”
Teresa Heitmeir, a safety town instructor and third-grade teacher at Corse Elementary School, said she already has started to hear from parents afraid that Safety Town will be canceled.
“We’ve poured our heart and soul into this,” she said.
Safety Town instructor and Oak Street Middle School teacher Brandi Craig said the program does wonders for educating children in more rural areas like Danville, as well as those in Burlington.
“I’ve taught these kids during Safety Town, and now I might not get to see my own kids graduate from the program,” she said.
Mary Kuster, assistant program director for the domestic violence and sexual assault program through Planned Parenthood, said Fry’s dedication to community action will be greatly missed.
“She started all the community programs,” she said. “It’s very disappointing that Fry won’t be there, and as a community, we need to work with schools and children.”
Right now, those involved with safety town are trying to figure out the next step. The gigantic tarp painted with city streets that now fills the Corse Elementary gymnasium will have to be folded up and put away. The same goes for the miniature houses, the working stoplight and about a dozen tricycles used to create Safety Town.
Fry has not talked with GRMC officials about what to do with the equipment, but said it should fit into a small storage locker. In the meantime, the coalition has a more than a month to find a parent organization.
“We aren’t condemning anyone,” Parker said. “We’re just looking for another lead agency, and that’s the hard part. We’ve all supported this and tried to make this a safe place to live.”
Fry said that any interested organizations would only have to provide her salary, which is negotiable, for 20 hours a week. For more information, call Fry at (319) 768-4010.
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