Johnson Memorial Health Services (JMHS) worked with Countryside Public Health to provide a Free Car Seat Clinic in Dawson. The clinic was held on Tuesday, September 18 from 3-6 pm behind Lee Motor Company. The clinic provided an opportunity to educate and provide assistance to parents using car seats.
At the clinic, car seat practitioners supervised by a car seat technician reviewed 25 different kids and their car seats; 85-90% of them were installed incorrectly. During the clinic 10 new car seats were given out; mostly because the child had outgrown the current seat they were in. If the current car seat had been recalled that seat was then confiscated and destroyed. Each car seat in a vehicle is reviewed separately and took approximately a half hour to inspect.
Jenny Erdmann an RN at JMHS and car seat practitioner said “These clinics are important because parents can buy the most expensive car seat available, but they don’t have it installed correctly. The correct installation is the only way that we’re certain the seat is going to work in the event of a crash.”
Thank you to Jenny Erdmann, Dana Lien, Mikkel Conover, Jill Matthies and Kristyn Wicht from Johnson Memorial Health Services; Char Lehne, April Borstad, Amber Molden and Toni Cam from Appleton Area Health Services; Sabrina Skold from the Dawson PD and Nancy Tofte from Countryside Public Health who helped make the clinic such a success. The Dawson Girl Scouts were also on hand to help babysit the kids while their parents were busy with the clinic. This was a huge help for both parents and car seat practitioners. A special thank you to the JM Auxiliary for purchasing the new car seats which allowed JMHS to offer this great service to the Dawson community.
