The Kiwanis Cal-Nev-Ha Foundation Board of Directors recently approved five grant requests from our partner hospitals totaling $93,485.85. These grants will be used by our partner hospitals in Oakland, San Diego, Madera, Honolulu and Reno to expand injury prevention programs; provide advanced pediatric training to doctors and nurses; and to purchase specialized pediatric medical equipment.
Valley Children’s Hospital
Valley Children’s Hospital will utilize their grant totaling more than $25,000 to sponsor Seat Check Saturday, a health and Safety Fair for children and families living in and around Madera. Specifically, the funds will be used to purchase 124 child safety seats, 600 bike helmets to be distributed to underserved families, and a child passenger safety simulator which will be used for educating parents on proper car seat installation at events where a vehicle cannot be used, as well as during Child Passenger Safety Technician courses.
UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland
Each year, the Injury Prevention Program at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland helps more than 3,000 children from newborn to 14 years old and their parents and care providers. The hospital serves an unusually diverse and vulnerable population compared to other pediatric hospitals across the country. Patients at Children’s Hospital Oakland speak more than 60 different languages and more than 70% rely on government-sponsored health insurance.
This year the hospital will receive a $20,000 grant to enhance their injury prevention programs in six key areas: abusive head trauma (shaken baby syndrome); safe sleep (SUID/SIDS); falls prevention; home safety; a revised injury prevention booklet; and training for the hospital’s injury prevention coordinator.
Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego
Mary Beth Moran, Program Manager for the Injury Prevention program at Rady Children’s Hospital will tell you that multiple research studies over the past two decades have confirmed that children in low income families are at a substantially higher risk of injury than children of middle income families. That’s why this year’s grant of more than $22,000 will fund staff and materials to provide educational presentations to families residing in low income housing.
Working with Community Housing Works, a California nonprofit organization which provides affordable housing, as well as financial coaching and other family centered educational activities for residents, staff from Rady Children’s Hospital will provide educational presentations which will focus on unintentional injury prevention to both parents and their children. This dual presentation style will minimize the need for childcare services, thus enabling parents to attend. Each presentation will reach a minimum of 20 families, each with an average of four children, thus affecting the lives of more than 800 children.
Kapi’olani Children’s Hospital
As the only trauma hospital with a Level III Pediatric Trauma designation within the State of Hawaii, our partners at Kapi’olani Children’s Hospital recognize the importance of quality trauma care. The hospital’s transport team delivers medical intervention to neonatal and pediatric patients who are transported by ambulance and fixed winged aircraft to Kapi’olani.
Kapi’olani serves patients throughout Hawaii and the Pacific Region and provides air and ambulance transportation to more than 600 children annually. Kapi’olani will receive a $6,300 grant to purchase a specialized monitoring device to be used when transporting pediatric trauma patients inside and outside of the hospital, with the goal of providing quality care to pediatric trauma patients to ensure the best possible outcome.
Renown Children’s Hospital
Also looking to improve patient outcomes and increase patient safety, our partners at Renown Children’s Hospital applied for a $20,000 grant for the purchase of an ultrasound machine for use in the pediatric emergency department.
In the pediatric emergency room, every second is precious when an infant, small child or teenager presents with a severe illness or injury. With the scan of a wand, ER medical providers can illuminate internal organs and the circulatory system in vivid detail. This offers immediate clinical information to improve patient safety, decrease complications, and help determine the proper treatment and medications. This is critical in the pediatric setting, when children may be unable to relay where they hurt or how they feel if they have experienced a traumatic injury or are critically ill.
With more than 25,000 pediatric encounters annually, this ultrasound machine will see a lot of use!