In honor of Safe Kids Week, Safe Kids Wayne County will celebrate throughout May.

Safe Kids Wayne County will have two interactive displays at Touch A Truck, hosted by the Partnership for Children of Wayne County, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., on May 11, at the Wayne County Fairgrounds. One display will highlight vehicular heat strokes, and the other will focus on vehicle backovers, also known as Spot the Tot.

Safe Kids Wayne County, led by the Partnership for Children of Wayne County, is providing tips, resources, and activities to educate parents and caregivers about simple ways to keep their kids safe from a range of preventable injuries, including vehicle heat stroke and back over safety as well as bicycle safety.

Summer is an exciting time for families, often bringing vacations, cookouts, picnics, and time away from work and school. Yet summer is also known as “trauma season” among health professionals in the United States because unintentional injuries and deaths increase dramatically among children.

At a time when parents are focused on many priorities at once, Safe Kids Week is a national celebration dedicated to raising awareness about child injury prevention and inspiring parents to focus on proven and practical tips to keep their kids safe.

In Wayne County, unintentional injuries accounted for a total of 38,435 visits to the emergency department from 2017-2021.

These injuries include fall, motor vehicle injuries, poisoning, firearm, fire/burn, bicycle, and drowning, among others. In fact, preventable injuries are the number one cause of death of children in the United States, and millions more are injured in ways that can affect them for a lifetime.

“Safe Kids Week is a wonderful opportunity for Wayne County to celebrate kids, learn about how to keep them safe, and, ultimately, save lives,” said Shelly Willis, Coordinator of Safe Kids Wayne County Coalition. “This is a week where we can all take just a little bit of time out of our busy schedules to focus on a few simple steps that can make a big difference in the safety of our children.”

To support parents and caregivers, Safe Kids Wayne County is offering helpful resources, including the My High Five Child Safety Checklist that includes the top 5 tips for the top safety areas such as bike safety, child passenger safety, home safety, water safety, and sleep safety.