University of Iowa Children's Hospital is one of six children's hospitals in the United States selected to receive a $100,000-grant from the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions to develop a Safe Escape Program.
Pam Hoogerwerf, community services coordinator for Patient and Family Centered Services at UI Children's Hospital, located in UI Hospitals and Clinics, talks about the program:
How was UI Children's Hospital chosen as one of only six children's hospitals to receive this grant?
We submitted an extremely competitive grant. Our proposal was unique because we were not going to just open a freestanding store within the hospital. It was important for us to get the message out about this program across the entire state on behalf of UI Children's Hospital.
What will this grant allow UI Children's Hospital to offer to families?
What we hope—our mission—is that safety for all children should be convenient, accessible, and affordable. We plan to provide an educational component with the safety products we make available at very affordable prices to families across the state.
What will the Safe Escape Program involve?
The Safe Escape Program part of the grant was developed as a federal grant program funded by the Department of Homeland Security. What they've discovered is that there has not been a lot of recognizable, conventional evacuation education and emergency preparedness for the kids with special health care needs. The Safe Escape Program taps directly into the patient population with mobility issues, sensory issues, that sort of thing, with adaptable products and educational informatioin.
This also the Safety Store. How is that differentiated from the Safe Escape Program?
The Safety Store is part of the educational component for preventing unintentional injuries to children. It's going to carry low cost goods that hopefully prevent unintentional injury. It's includes basic safety products as well as products that you just can't walk into a retail store and find.
Who qualifies to go through the Safe Escape Program?
Anyone with a relationship with University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and certainly University of Iowa Children's Hospital will qualify for this program. We will promote this new program with inpatients and ambulatory clinic patients and unique special health care kids who attend our Continuity of Care Clinic.
What safety products are available to families who go through the Safe Escape Program?
Products include child identification, medical alerts, and tracking devices that are very user friendly. We also have some assistive devices for the mobility-issue kids if they need to be taken out of a place in a hurry. And there are evacuation mats, slings, and ponchos that go over kids in wheelchairs to get them out of fires.
Is there a cost for families who participate in the Safe Escape Program?
There is no cost to participate in the program. The product inventory will be passed along to the consumer at a reduced rate. It's not about the retail part. What's important is the educational component promoting a safe evacuation or a decrease in unintentional injury.
If someone wanted to learn more about the program or make an appointment, who would they contact?
For more information, contact Pam Hoogerwerf, community service coordinator pamela-hoogerwerf@uiowa.edu . Or call the Safety Store at: 319-356-3543. |
