MMA Alliance, TSI Collaborate on New Child-safety Brochure

WALTHAM — Declaring that “home safety is not an accident,” the Mass. Medical Society (MMS) Alliance and the Safety Institute (TSI) have collaborated in developing a child-safety brochure for parents and caregivers of children newborn through age 5 aimed at improving safety in the home and reducing unintentional injuries to infants and toddlers.

“Home Safety Is Not an Accident: Keeping Children Safe from Birth Through Kindergarten” is a 12-page pamphlet providing a wealth of safety tips for caregivers. It includes such topics as preparing a home for a newborn, safe sleep for infants, kitchen and bath safety, outdoor and recreation safety, child passenger-safety laws, backyard safety, and even hazards at grandparents’ homes. The project was initiated by TSI and funded by the MMS Alliance, with content provided by both organizations.

“Safe and healthy children is the goal of our partnership,” said Gladys Chan, outgoing president of the Mass. Medical Society Alliance. “Most serious injuries occur in and around the home, and by increasing awareness and providing specific steps to take, we can help parents and caregivers create home environments that reduce the risk of injury and illness and are much safer for children.”

“Unintentional injuries have long been the leading cause of death and hospitalization for infants and toddlers, both in Massachusetts and across the country,” added Lewis Howe, executive director of TSI, a nonprofit charitable organization devoted to injury prevention and product safety. “TSI is committed to educating parents and adult caregivers about hazards and is proud to partner with the Mass. Medical Society Alliance to give parents, grandparents, and other caregivers information to keep the preschoolers in their lives safe and secure.”

In addition to the many safety tips, the brochure also contains additional listings of websites and phone numbers to address such topics as swimming-pool safety, burn prevention, window safety, and poison-control emergencies. It also includes a tear-out sheet for listing local emergency phone numbers.

The child-safety brochure is available free via download from the websites of both organizations — www.massmed.org/alliance/childsafety and www.thesafetyinstitute.org — and may be duplicated for distribution without profit. A limited number of copies are available in print by e-mailing alliance@massmed.org or lewis@thesafetyinstitute.org. The project is co-sponsored by the Mass. Medical Society’s Committee on Student Health and Sports Medicine.