Injury Prevention Program

The Injury Prevention Program at Riley at IU Health is part of the trauma services department. Our team works with the community to assess needs and create targeted programs to reduce all preventable injuries and deaths among Indiana’s children.

Services and classes include:

• Child Passenger Safety community check-up appointments., Open to the general community, parents and caregivers can set up an appointment with a Child Passenger Safety Technician to receive help with the installation of their child’s car seat. Families who qualify for government assistance, and can demonstrate a need for a new car seat, can receive one at a reduced cost. To schedule an appointment, call or text 317.499.4779. Limited appointments in Spanish are available.
  
• Child Passenger Safety Training. Have a Child Passenger Safety Technician train caregivers and other professional child advocates, at your place of business, about child passenger safety. Participants learn the best practice recommended for installing a child into a car seat and a car seat into a vehicle. This is not a certification course. Classes are approximately two hours.
• Safe Sitter®. Adolescents in sixth, seventh and eighth grade learn safety skills and confidence for staying home alone, watching younger siblings, and babysitting as a job. The class also includes instructions for choking rescue and CPR. Classes are typically offered to community organizations by request, and once annually at Riley Hospital.
• Heartsaver® CPR. Adults and teens who work closely with children learn adult, child, and infant CPR, AED use, and choking rescue. This course is designed for anyone with limited or no medical training.
• Riley Children’s Health Facebook safety videos. Follow the Riley Children’s Health Facebook page for short video clips and Facebook Live’s in which important injury topics and prevention are discussed.
• Think First. The Riley injury prevention coordinator will come out to your school and/or classroom to educate students on ‘Thinking First’ to protect their brain and spinal cord from serious injury. Topics to be covered include safety on their bikes, in vehicles, around weapons, around their friends, crossing the street, and more.

Partnering for Child Safety

Our Injury Prevention Program has been keeping kids safer since 2003. We work alongside community organizations that also are committed to child safety. Together we assess needs, design programs and advocate for a safer, healthier environment for children in our communities.

Below is just some of the work that the Injury Prevention Program at Riley at IU Health has carried, and continues to carry out, through partnership with community organizations.

• Volunteers of America - Fresh Start Recovery Center. Provided education to mothers, recovering from opioid drug misuse, on safe sleep, child passenger safety, home safety, and child protection
• Goodwill Industries Nurse-Family Partnership. Provided education to first-time, expecting, low-income families on safe sleep, child passenger safety, home safety, and child protection
• First Steps of Indiana. Provided home safety education and resources to families with financial need
• Marion County Prosecutor’s Office. Active participant in Project LIFE, a court-ordered program for youth gun offenders, with the goals of preventing recidivism, violence related injury or death, and promoting resources for safety and resilience
• Riley Hospital Safety Store. Provides safety support for families by answering questions and recommending safety products for children of all ages.
• Coalition Participation. Automotive Safety Program Advisory Council, Injury Free Coalition for Kids, Marion County Child Fatality Review, Health by Design