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graduate from Safe Sitter course
St. Mary's Hospital recently sponsored a two and half day Safe Sitter course. Fifteen students from Cottonwood and Nezperce attended and passed the course. Safe Sitter began because of a tragedy that occurred in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1980. On a beautiful spring day, an 18 month-old little girl died in a hospital emergency room-her death was caused by choking on food from her breakfast. The little girl's mother was a nurse, and she knew exactly what to do if her child choked, but the mother was at work in the hospital. The adult babysitter did not know how to handle the emergency. Dr. Patricia Keener, the doctor who cared for the toddler in the emergency room, was saddened by the child's death-especially since she knew and worked with the child's mother. Dr. Keener knew that the child's death could have bee prevented if the babysitter had known how to rescue a choking child. On the very day the child dies, Dr. Keener decided she would create a class for babysitters on how to handle children's emergencies. She decided to offer her class to young babysitters so that they could begin babysitting with good habits from the beginning. Dr. Keener thought her first class two weeks later at her children's school. The class was a hit and has continued to be a success. Safe Sitter has spread in the years since 1980 from Indiana to all fifty states and Canada, England, and Israel. There are over 200,000 Safe Sitter graduates. During the Safe Sitter class the students learned many babysitting skills; from rescue breathing and choking to safety for the babysitter to behavior management. Locally St. Mary's Hospital joined the program in 1993 and has had over 150 students graduate from the program. |
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