Safe Kids Willamette Valley Honored as Coalition of the Year

Safe Kids Oregon

(SALEM, Ore.) - Safe Kids Oregon honored Safe Kids Willamette Valley as the recipient of the Safe Kids Coalition of the Year Award on Sept. 28th at the Regional Safe Kids Training in Portland, Oregon. The award is given to the coalition in the state that shows exemplary contribution to preventing unintentional injury in children through their local Safe Kids coalition efforts.

"Safe Kids Oregon is grateful to Safe Kids Willamette Valley for their continued efforts to promote injury prevention in both Marion and Polk counties. This coalition, led by Salem Hospital and Polk Fire District 1, has really done tremendous work. They built one of the best child passenger safety programs in the state, spearheaded drowning prevention efforts by building and installing several life jacket loaner kiosks, distributed dozens of bike helmets, and built working relationships with many partners on a variety of injury risk areas. They really are a model coalition" said Adrienne Greene, Safe Kids Oregon Director.

The mission of Safe Kids is to reduce injury-related morbidity and mortality rates among children. Safe Kids Oregon is the state office of Safe Kids USA. Safe Kids Willamette Valley is one of more than 300 grassroots coalitions in all 50 states that bring together health and safety experts, educators, corporations, foundations, governments, and volunteers to educate and protect families. Unintentional injury is the number one cause of death among children ages 14 and under in the United States. Each year one out of every four children needs medical attention for an unintended injury.

The regional training was the first of its kind in the nation. It included Safe Kids Coordinators and members from Oregon, Washington, Utah, Montana, Alaska and Idaho.