Summer Special Edition Newsletter

Fireworks are a part of most families’ 4^th of July celebrations, but fireworks are not safe for children. Many people consider sparklers as being safe for young children to use, but they actually burn at 1200 °F or more, and account for around one-quarter of firework related emergency room visits. Make sure to take extra care this year and keep fireworks away from children.

The safest way to enjoy fireworks are to leave them to the professionals and enjoy a public display.

Minnesota State Law for Child Passenger Safety is Changing August 1, 2024

Anchors Aweigh to Water Safety When the weather is hot, Safe Kids Grand Forks knows that cooling off in a body of water can be very refreshing. Swimming is a lot of fun and can be done individually, but we recommend always swimming with active adult supervision. Active adult supervision means that an adult has their eyes on the swimmers at all times; they are not napping, on their phone, reading, visiting with others or off in another location. It means that they are directly in sight and reach of those swimming should they have trouble and need immediate assistance. Drowning is the second leading cause of death in children and it happens quickly. A child can drown in seconds in only one inch of water and it is often silent in nature so having an attentive eye on the swimmer is important.

ATV Safety

The decision to let youth ride on an ATV is complicated and there are many considerations that should be taken when making this decision. Safe Kids and the American Academy of Pediatrics, along with other safety experts, concur that children under the age of 16 should not be riding on an ATV. They do not have the cognitive skills to make good driving decisions and they often don’t have the upper body strength to bring a tipping ATV to an upright position. While helmets are required by law for youth under age 18, we often see deaths and injuries occurring from crushing injuries from the weight of these vehicles. ATVs can weigh up to 800# and travel at speeds of up to 70 mph. The size and speed of these pieces of equipment can easily lead to injuries and deaths since there are no safety features on an ATV such as those found in a car (air bags, seat belts, rollover bars, etc.)

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Safe at Home Alone - Drop your 8-12 year old off to prepare them for independence with this class created by Safe Kids Grand Forks. Registration is required and class size is limited.

$20 charge per child.

Smart Sitter - This class is held periodically in conjunction with Altru Health System. There are classes offered throughout the year. Registration is required and class size is limited. $50 charge per child includes lunch.

The Grand Forks/East Grand Forks Metropolitan Planning Organization has secured funding for a Safe Streets for All study, which is kicking off this summer, to run through August 2025. The SS4A program funds regional, local, and Tribal initiatives through grants to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries.

The kickoff event, held at Empire Arts Theatre, introduced the planning tools and various ways the community may provide input into the areas of concern within our communities. There, community members could place colored dots on areas of the map that are problematic, they could highlight both how they currently travel throughout our community as well as how they would LIKE to travel, and explore some of the other data available regarding travel and roadway safety within our communities.

A tool presented, the interactive map, is still live and community members are encouraged to weigh in on this easy-to-use tool. Just visit: https://bit.ly/GGFSS4A and select intersections, sidewalks, streets or crossings that you have an opinion on, note your comments and have your voice heard. You can read others comments as well.

Safe Kids has signed on as a member of the Community Advisory Group. We will continue to update our coalition members as the study progresses.

As summertime temperatures reach our area, keeping heatstroke prevention at the top of mind is important for parents and caregivers. Temperatures inside vehicles can get to be 40-50 degrees hotter than outside so on a fair 72-degree day, the temps inside a car can be in excess of 120 degrees. Each year, an average of 39 children lose their lives after being forgotten in a car or gaining access to an unlocked vehicle. Their little bodies overheat 3-5 times faster than that of an adult.

Click the picture on the right for more information on this topic and a heart wrenching video from a parent from our community who lost her daughter to this tragic cause,

Safe Kids Grand Forks has been the recipient of a State Farm grant to support our child passenger safety and heatstroke awareness work. Safe Kids Worldwide launched this amazing partnership with State Farm to benefit coalitions all throughout the United States. We have enjoyed this new teaching aide that demonstrates the dangers of heatstroke and kids left in hot cars. We were able to showcase this most recently at an event for low or no-income residents in downtown Grand Forks and at the Spirit Lake Reservation Head Start Family Night. Thanks, State Farm and Safe Kids Worldwide for supporting our work in this way.

Safe Kids Grand Forks will be hosting a day-long training entitled Child Passenger Safety in School Buses in Minot this July. This course is designed for school bus drivers or monitors, special education instructors, transportation aides, principals, car seat technicians or others involved in the transportation plan for children on school buses. The class size is limited, and registration is required.

For more information, contact Safe Kids Grand Forks at 701.780.1489 or safekids@altru.org

Don’t Take a Vacation from Safety

Summer travel season is upon us and safely storing medications while on vacation is important. Consider using a lock box to keep medications out of site and reach of kids. Safe Kids Grand Forks has lock boxes that can be borrowed from our office by calling 701.780.1489. Don't take a vacation from safety during your summer adventures!

To learn more, click on the picture to the right.

Safe Kids Grand Forks Team Welcomes New Team Member

Safe Kids Grand Forks is excited to welcome a new full-time team member to our staff. Jed Hendrickson joined us as a Safe Kids Specialist in May. Suffice to say, his first day/week on the job was a busy one as we enrolled him in the 4-day car seat technician training course. He passed with flying colors and has since been immersed in doing lots of car seat work with us.

Jed will be taking on our home safety work as his area of focus, along with sports safety. In fact, Jed did work during college on sports/concussion injuries and we look forward to him sharing some of that experience with our team.

Here are a few “getting to know you, Jed” questions as we help to introduce him to our community in this new role.

What inspired you to apply for a job at Safe Kids? My background is focused in youth athletics, and the opportunity to help educate children on how to be safe while having fun seemed like a perfect fit to me.

What are your thoughts about our work after the first month on the job? It’s busy! I seem to be doing something different every day.

When you aren’t working, what is your favorite pastime/way to spend your time? Hanging out with my 5-year-old daughter. She loves to sit and read together, and now that summer has started her favorite weekend activity is going to the farmer’s market downtown.

What one thing are you most interested in doing in your new role? Once I’ve had time to become acclimated to everything else, growing our outreach for safety in youth sports.

Jed grew up and attended school from grades K – 8 in Manvel and then transferred to Central High School so he is no stranger to this area. We are delighted to have him on our team. If you need to contact Jed, his information is as follows:

E-mail: jed.hendrickson@altru.org

Phone: 701.780.1866