Home Safety

Injury Free Coalition for Kids of Rochester

Flower City Habitat for Humanity has been helping to eliminate substandard and poverty housing in Rochester, New York since 1984. From 2003 to 2007, IFCK of Rochester teamed up with Habitat for Humanity to provide safer homes for many of Rochester’s families. Injury Free Rochester worked with new homeowners to individually “child-proof” their home. Several homes were visited each month. These visits were well received and through our efforts identified that the newer habitat homes are built with separate temperature gauges for the house and shower, so in turn, homeowners were turning their hot water tank up too high to compensate for the cold water in the shower. IFCK was able to inform the homeowners of how to keep their water at a safe temperature to prevent scald burns. Our efforts increase the safety in homes and parents awareness of safety issues.

Safe Crib and Car Seat Project:

Children are at the greatest risk of injury related morbidity and mortality particularly in the inner city setting. We addressed this problem by visiting the homes of low-income, new mothers who were selected through the safe crib and car seat project. IFCK provided “home safety walk-throughs” where we would walk through each home and provide information on ways to make their home safe from injury and provide them with any needed equipment such as cabinet locks and thermometers to check water temperature. By working directly with each family in a one on one intervention, we empowered families to improve their home environment and to prevent or minimize injuries in the home. The Safe Crib and Car Seat Project is composed of local consumer advocates and community organizations that carefully screen and identify local families who need a safe crib and provide them free of charge. When the cribs are distributed, we recruit willing participants to allow us to help them provide a safer home. We also encourage these women to share the information we provide with those who attend to the children, creating a network of people interested in the common goal of safety.

Pediatric Links in the Community:

In 2005, with a grant from Pediatric Links in the Community, we worked with Action for a Better Community (ABC) to provide home safety kits and safety information to 250 local families. Training was provided to family outreach workers (ORW) that improved their knowledge and ability to educate the community. The ORW would go out into the community and distribute the safety information and equipment. The purpose was to increase safety awareness in the home. ABC has been a member of the coalition since its inception and their help in empowering the neighborhood with the knowledge to keep children safe, improves the quality of life for everyone. We were able to reach many in the community through this collaboration.