Riley Hospital for Childrens Safety Store and Its Pioneering Safe Escape Program Featured at Workshop for Select Hospitals

04/10/2008

First of Its Kind Programs Serve as Blueprint for Children's Hospitals Across the Nation

Indianapolis - The National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI), in partnership with Riley Hospital's Safety Store Team, will be presenting a Safety Store workshop, which includes Riley Hospital's pioneering Safe Escape Program, April 10-11, 2008 at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.

"We are pleased to partner with our colleagues at Riley Hospital's Safety Store who will be leading this training," said Karen Seaver Hill, Director of Child Advocacy for NACHRI. "Children's hospitals nationwide are excited about the unique niche hospital-based Safety Stores offer families in finding find low-cost safety products and injury prevention education. The Riley Safety Store and its pioneering Safe Escape Program serve as a blueprint for children's hospitals across the country."

Six children's hospitals will be participating in the NACHRI Safety Store workshop:

• University of Iowa Children's Hospital, Iowa City, IA;
• Children's Hospital of Michigan, Detroit, MI;
• St. Louis Children's Hospital, St. Louis, MO;
• Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, Cleveland, OH;
• Legacy Emanuel Children's Hospital, Portland, OR; and
• Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, Nashville, TN

The Riley Safety Store, the first of its kind in the nation to serve all children including children with disabilities or health care needs, opened in 2005 and offers families, staff and the general public access a broad inventory of low-cost child safety products and injury prevention education.

Also in 2005, Riley Hospital for Children initiated the Safe Escape Program, run through the Riley Safety Store. Safe Escape offers families of children with health care needs and disabilities the education, information and equipment they need to prepare for safe escape evacuations during emergencies. By March 2007, Safe Escape expanded to become the first of its kind in the nation.

The Safe Escape program will come full circle April 2008 with the launch of the Safe Escape website, www.escapesafe.org. The store-based program and the online version will empower families to make specific, customized emergency evacuation plans for their home.

"Through the comprehensive Safe Escape program, families will have peace of mind knowing they have the information, tools and resources necessary to design, prepare and practice their own emergency preparedness plan so everyone can escape safely in an emergency or natural disaster," said Emily McQuade, MPA, MA, Riley Safe Escape Program Manager.

Each of the children's hospitals participating in the workshop will receive a $100,000 grant to establish a Safety Store that includes the Safe Escape program. The six finalists were selected from among 44 applications by a panel of eight reviewers, experts in the field of injury risk and prevention, including Cara Fast, MSW, Riley Safety Store Manager, and Emily McQuade, MPA, MA, Riley Safe Escape Program Manager.

The Safety Store and Safe Escape Program training at Riley Hospital and the grant funding for the six participating children's hospitals were made possible by a $1 million grant awarded to NACHRI by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program - Fire Prevention and Safety Grant number EMW-2006-FP-02952.

Riley Hospital's Safe Escape Program has been made possible by $1.3 million in grant funding awarded by Homeland Security's Assistance to Firefighters Fire Prevention and Safety Grants Program.