As we turn our clocks back this weekend, we're also reminded to change the batteries in our smoke detectors. It's a simple act that saves lives. It's also an important part of a safety program run by nurses in the Burn Treatment Center at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

Safe Start is a burn prevention program led by a group of University of Iowa Health Care nurses who are all too familiar with the tragedies of burn accidents. They use puppets to teach Eastern Iowa students fire safety and burn prevention - and to hopefully save lives:

Bridget Werling, R.N., and Mendi Sauder , nursing assistant, use their experience in the burn treatment center to educate children about burn prevention. Using life-size puppets, they sing and dance and act out plays for Eastern Iowa third-graders. It's a non-threatening way for kids to learn about burn prevention and fire safety:

"If we can prevent an accident with kids in the area, that's one less patient we need to see with pain, one less patient that might have to have surgery," says Werling.

The puppets are part of a nationwide program called The Kids on the Block. Children interact directly with the characters during question-and-answer sessions after each skit. The nurses believe the music and fun helps these third-graders better understand the message:

"To know that you've maybe touched someone - even one kid out there - that could in five years down the road could stop, drop and roll when he's in a fire - that's worth it," says Sauder.

"That probably to me is the most important thing, that those kids are actually excited about it, and they share it with their parents."

The nurses also use the puppets to explain various treatments for burn patients and to educate classmates and teachers when a burn victim returns to school.

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