Despite the attention commanded by kidnapping, drugs,
and other threats to young children, it is actually a handful of simple
preventable injuries that are the number-one health risk for children
ages 14 and under. Yet, according to the nonprofit National Fire Protection
Association (NFPA), parents and caregivers too often view these hazards
as inevitable consequences of growing up.
In an effort to reduce those risks in Illinois, a coalition
of state agencies and private industry has introduced an injury prevention
curriculum entitled Risk Watch created by the NFPA to five
communities in Illinois for 2001. Risk Watch is a comprehensive
program that gives children and their families the information and support
they need to make positive, health-promoting choices about their personal
safety and well-being. Illinois Risk Watch is looking for communities
that wish to participate.
Risk Watch targets the eight leading causes
of injury for children: motor vehicle crashes, fires and burns, choking,
suffocation, and strangulation, poisoning, falls, unintentional firearms
incidents, bike and pedestrian hazards, and water hazards. Risk
Watch curriculum, divided into five learning-level modules (preschool
through grade eight), is designed to involve children as active participants,
not just as listeners.
The Illinois Risk Watch Champion Management
Team (CMT) is coordinated by the Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal
in cooperation with Health Alliance Medical Plans, the Illinois Department
of Public Health/Illinois Safe Kids Coalition, Illinois State Police,
Illinois Department of Transportation and the Illinois School Board.
Over the next several years, the coalition plans to
recruit, train and assist with resources for local coalitions in communities
in Illinois. These coalitions will then go into the schools in their
local communities to teach the children how to make their schools, homes
and communities safer.
Risk Watch was developed under the direction
of NFPA with co-funding from Lowes Home Safety Council and with technical
support from a coalition of North America's most authoritative injury
prevention professionals. Risk Watch is a trademark of NFPA,
Quincy, MA.
If you want more information regarding the Illinois
Risk Watch program, please contact Jessica Blackford at (217) 558-0324
or via e-mail at Jessica.Blackford@illinois.gov
