Prevention plans urged to reduce child deaths

Buying furniture safety straps is a very small price to pay to make a child safe, a Struthers police dispatcher says.

By WILLIAM K. ALCORN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Premature birth caused one-third of the 36 child deaths in Mahoning County in 2007.

Homicide was the second leading cause of death that year among children, with a total of five cases. Two of the homicide victims were between the ages of 1 and 12 months, according to statistics from the Mahoning County Child Fatality Review Board.

The board tracks the deaths of county children ages birth through 18 because child deaths are regarded as one of the best indicators of the community’s health. The 2007 statistics are the latest available.

A careful study of each child’s death can show how best to prevent future child deaths, board officials said. For example, the tragic death of 4-year-old Sarah Nicole Bundy of Struthers, caused when she was reaching into the upper drawer of her bedroom dresser and the dresser fell on her, produced a campaign to warn people about the dangers of furniture and television tip-overs. She died March 18, 2007.

After Sarah’s death, Brenda Pavlicko, a Struthers police dispatcher and friend of the girl’s family, contacted the child fatality review board to find out what she could do to help prevent similar tragedies.

“I never heard of anything like that happening. At the time, my son was 2, and I wondered what information was out there for parents and grandparents,” she said.

With Pavlicko’s help and that of Ricky S. George of the Youngstown State University’s Center for Human Services Development, a child safety brochure was developed and distributed on the danger of furniture and television tip-overs.

The brochure is given to new mothers in Mahoning County who receive a nurse home visit through the county health department’s Help Me Grow program.

Also, board members and pediatrician Dr. Ronald Dwinnells, head of Ohio North East Health Systems in Youngstown, developed an advisory letter about furniture tip-over risks that was distributed by the county District Board of Health’s Health Alert Network to local pediatricians and family practitioners, said Matthew Stefanak, health commissioner.

After beginning the furniture tip-over campaign in 2008, the fatality review board received an e-mail message from Sarah’s grandmother, Mary Bundy.

It said, in part: “We have passed out many of the brochures to preschools and friends and mailed them to friends and relatives in other states and cities to help spread the word. My daughters and I have vowed that for every baby shower we attend, a part of the gift is a set of safety straps.”

Safety straps are devices that can be used to fasten furniture to walls. “It’s a very small price to pay to make a child safe,” Pavlicko said.

Jan Baharis, program director of Daybreak, a program of Family Service Agency, helped coordinate the review of 18 of the 36 child deaths in 2007. A review is triggered when deaths are caused by an injury, either intentional or unintentional, are investigated by a coroner, or requested by any child fatality review board participant.

“It is an incredibly valuable committee that can really make a difference in making our community more safe for our children,” Baharis said. “The goal is to prevent future child deaths by looking at trends and gaps in service” and then creating education and awareness campaigns to address them.

On a personal level, she said reviewing the circumstances of a death is a way to honor the child’s life.

alcorn@vindy.com

SAFETY FIRST | Keeping kids safe

On average, 18 children are killed each year in the United States by furniture and television tip-overs. From 2000-2004, 18 of the 116 infants who perished in Mahoning County died of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) and other sleep-related conditions such as suffocation and maternal overlay. Below are some prevention tips:

Furniture tip-overs

Verify that furniture is stable on its own.

For added security, attach to the wall or anchor to the floor all entertainment units, TV stands, bookcases, shelving and bureaus, using appropriate hardware, such as brackets, screws or toggles.

Place TVS on sturdy furniture appropriate for the size of the TV or on a low-rise base. Push the TV back as far as possible.

Place electrical cords out of a child’s reach, and teach kids to not play with them.

Remove items from the top of TVs and furniture, such as toys and the remote control, that might tempt kids to climb.

Safe Sleep

Infants should be put to sleep on their backs only.

Infants should sleep in a crib with a firm mattress in the same room as their mother.

Caregivers should keep soft objects and loose bedding out of crib.

Offer a pacifier at nap and bed time.

Mothers should not smoke during or after pregnancy.

Adults should not expose infants to secondhand smoke.

The 2007 statistics, the last year available, on where the 36 Mahoning County children died, their race and sex:

Residence

Youngstown: 17

Boardman: 4

Austintown: 3

Beloit: 2

Canfield: 2

Beaver Township, Campbell, Milton Township, Sebring, Smith Township, Springfield Township, Struthers and Washingtonville: 1 each.

Race: White: 20 Black: 16

Sex: 18 each, boys and girls.

Source: Mahoning County District Board of Health