Johns Hopkins Safe Kids program offers helmets, car‑seat checks and school safety trainings to Polk County schools

Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital representatives told the Polk County School Board on Aug. 12 that their Safe Kids Florida Suncoast partnership provides helmet fittings, car‑seat checks, teen driving education and other injury‑prevention services to Polk County Public Schools. The presenters said the program offers in‑school visits, free helmets and educational materials and can be scheduled through district liaisons.

Petra Stanton, injury prevention program manager at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, said the coalition tracks the county’s leading causes of child injuries and deploys programming accordingly. “Typically … they surround motor vehicle crashes, bicycle pedestrian injuries … water safety, unintentional drowning,” Stanton said, naming child passenger safety, teen driving and helmet‑fitting certification as core services. She said the Suncoast coalition covers five counties and works with local trauma and therapy teams on special car‑seat assessments.

Stanton told the board Safe Kids certified 86 helmet fitters and held 13 events in Polk County during the hospital’s fiscal year ending June 30. She said the coalition distributed thousands of helmets across five counties and that 4,453 of those were in Polk County. The group also runs a school poster contest and provides bike‑pedestrian safety presentations, bike‑rack checks and a “Battle of the Belts” teen seat‑belt campaign.

Sheila Rainey, who said she visits Polk County schools and coordinates local outreach, described how the program responds after severe incidents. “I have done some response to injuries in Polk County where a child was struck by a car. We went and we did the whole student body … so that they had some education for the whole student body,” Rainey said. She described training school staff to remain helmet fitters so schools keep capacity after the team leaves.

Stanton said the coalition maintains an online list of local agencies that offer car‑seat checks and provided the district a contact page at hopkinsallchildrens.org/carseats. Board members asked how schools request services; Rainey said schools can contact district coordinator Tiffany Kitchens, who will forward requests, or contact Rainey directly. Board members thanked the presenters and asked staff to include program information in an upcoming district newsletter.

The presenters also said the coalition is piloting “all‑sport” helmets this school year that they hope students will prefer and wear more consistently. The program includes bike lights and a limited supply of free helmets for students who lack them.