St. John’s Trauma Prevention Program celebrates new child passenger safety law

St. John’s Trauma Prevention Program Coordinator Pam Holt, BSN, with nephew Austin Tuck.

Unintentional injury is the No. 1 cause of death for children and young adults, and motor vehicle crashes remain the No. 1 killer for adults up to age 33.

In the year 2000, St. John’s Hospital, the largest trauma center in the state, responded to these frightening statistics and made a commitment to serve as a resource center for southwest Missouri on injury prevention. St. John’s became the only hospital in the area to employ a full-time trauma prevention coordinator. Since its inception, schools and community members across the region have benefited from the community service programs offered by St. John’s Trauma Prevention Program.

Now, the efforts are paying off.

Fewer children are being admitted to St. John’s Hospital, the Ozarks’ only Level I Trauma Center with motor vehicle crash injuries. Bicycle-related injuries are also down, from the fourth most common cause of pediatric trauma admission to the eighth.

St. John’s Trauma Prevention Program provides free safety programs and education to area schools and community groups, based on the causes of injury most commonly treated at St. John’s Hospital.

The No. 1 cause of trauma admission for children is motor vehicle crashes. More than half of the children treated at St. John’s with injuries from a motor vehicle crash were not restrained in the vehicle.

Pam Holt, BSN, St. John’s Trauma Prevention Program coordinator, developed an educational program to teach children how and why they should be properly restrained. Holt became a certified child passenger safety technician and St. John’s gained status as a national fitting station, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

FREE CAR SEAT INSTALLATION EDUCATION

As a national fitting station, St. John’s provides free car seat installation education by appointment. Over the past five years, more than 1,000 area parents have taken advantage of this free service. St. John’s Trauma Prevention Program operates in cooperation with the Springfield Safe Kids Coalition and produces public service announcements on child passenger safety.

The program recently celebrated another victory. State Rep. Charlie Denison agreed to sponsor legislation to toughen Missouri’s child passenger safety law. The Missouri legislature voted to pass the bill in May. At Healthy People magazine’s press time in early June, the bill was awaiting Gov. Matt Blunt’s signature to become state law.

St. John’s Trauma Prevention Program reaches farther than the Ozarks. Holt serves as the vice chair of the Missouri Injury and Violence Prevention Advisory Committee and as the chair of the National Child Passenger Safety Board.

“The best trauma care is prevention,” says Trauma Program Director Kathryn Patterson, BSN. “Even though we see more trauma patients than any other trauma center in the state, we believe we have reduced the number of pediatric trauma admissions significantly due to this program. We hope to see a decreased injury rate in other areas of education as well, such as ATVs.”

ATV-accident admission rates have doubled since 2000. This year, Holt developed an educational program on the topic and is working with community partners to provide the information to interested groups.

“If we can save one life, then we have succeeded with this program,” Holt says.