Friday, December 7, 2001
The Mahoning County Child Fatality Review Board's report focused on children under age one and teens. Here are its recommendations to parents to help curb mortality rates in those target groups.
FOR TEENS
Implement and enforce curfews.Expand evening youth programs and community policing.Improve parental supervision to moderate risk-taking behavior.Increase youth driver experience through driver education.Assure that suicide prevention and post-suicide interventions are provided in schools.Urge area juvenile diversion programs to organize a task force to pursue funding to address mental health problems.Promote training young people in the use of nonviolent conflict mediation techniques.
FOR CHILDREN UNDER AGE ONE
Stress to pregnant women and the parents of newborns the importance of early and adequate prenatal and neonatal care and the risks of certain behaviors during pregnancy, especially smoking and alcohol use.Educate pregnant women and new parents about support resources available; about the importance of using cribs for infants instead of sharing a bed with them; and about not giving children adult medications for any reason at any dose.
Source: Mahoning County Child Fatality Review Board