Clark County Child Death and Review Team Working Hard to Prevent Child Injuries and Death
Monday, March 23rd, 2015 -- 10:50 AM
-Clark County is Working Together to Prevent Child Injuries and Deaths.Did you know injury is the leading cause of death for Wisconsin residents ages 1 to 44? Each year more than 150 Wisconsin children die from an injury. One infant or child death is too many. We must better understand why and how deaths occur and take action to prevent injuries and deaths.
Children's Health Alliance of Wisconsin leads the Keeping Kids Alive in Wisconsin program in partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Maternal and Child Health, Title V Program. Keeping Kids Alive is comprised of Child Death Review teams (CDR) in each county or region. The multidisciplinary teams share information learned from their review processes to improve the health and safety of their own communities.
Child Death Review teams are a community response to a child's death birth through age 21. CDR teams are critical in gaining a better understanding of how and why a child died. We have statistics on how many children die and from what causes, but often know little about the circumstances leading up to the child's death. CDR teams are prevention focused. The teams increase agency collaboration to improve health and safety, while demonstrating a commitment to keeping kids alive.
In 2008, the Clark County Child Death Review Team set its mission statement to read "review all child deaths in Clark County to identify associated risk factors and make appropriate public recommendations to prevent future child deaths through awareness and prevention programs." Since 2008, the Clark County CDR Team has reviewed 23 child deaths and one near death. The Clark County CDR core members include the Sheriff's Department, Health Department, Social Services, Corporation Counsel, District Attorney, Coroner, Community Services, and St. Joseph's Hospital.
The Clark County CDR Team has made great strides in child safety and injury prevention efforts within Clark County. Several grants have been written by members of the CDR team to provide funding towards four specific efforts.
? First, the Clark County Cribs for Kids, safe sleep program, has been implemented and is run by the Health Department. The focus is educating families on safe sleep and providing a portable pack and play crib for those families in need. An average of 30 cribs are given to families in need every year.
? Second, Clark County has responded to child safety while at home. We provide a prevention care package consisting of 2 smoke detectors, 2 gun lock safety devices, and various pamphlets, coloring books, and information regarding infant and child safety. The packages are available in both Spanish and English. Along with giving the family the care package, the provider also activates the smoke detectors. Since 2011, 92 care packages have been distributed.
? Third, the focus is on achieving zero injuries or deaths from child passenger safety (CPS) related accidents. The Clark County Health Department and Memorial Medical Center-Neillsville have CPS trained technicians. Collaboratively the Clark County Car Seats for Kids Program offers free car seat checks to any caregiver in Clark County. This includes assisting low income families with a new seat. Since 2011, over 180 car seats have been checked by the CPS technicians in Clark County.
? The fourth focus is on farm safety. The team is collaborating with the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire-College of Nursing. Eight senior level nursing students, mentored by the Health Dept. Lead Public Health Nurse will be working on farm safety/prevention initiatives in Clark County through May 2015.
We would like to give a special thank you to our grant sponsors who have helped to fund the Clark County CDR teams' prevention efforts. Our sponsors have included the Listeman Foundation, Children's Health Alliance of Wisconsin, Clark County United Way, and the Department of Transportation.
In the past few years the CDR team has helped ensure thorough and complete investigations into child deaths. The enhanced agency cooperation, cohesiveness, communication, and strong working relationships have assisted in identifying areas related to investigation that can be changed to improve effectiveness. More importantly, strides are being made in helping to prevent child injuries and deaths in Clark County.
To find out more information about the Clark County Child Death Review Team and prevention efforts, please contact Brittany Mews, RN BSN with the Clark County Health Department at 715-743-5106 or Kerry Kirn, Detective with the Clark County Sheriff's Office at 715-743-5358.
For child injury prevention resources, we invite you to "like" the Clark County Health Department and Clark County Sheriff's Office Facebook pages. You can also visit Children's Health Alliance of Wisconsin website at: http://www.chawisconsin.org.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.