A $100,000 state grant will pay for a unit of the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office to educate residents on the proper use of child safety seats.
“With this grant, we’ll be able to provide security for our youngest out there,” said Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond.
Safety seats reduce the risk of death in passenger cars by 71 percent for infants and 54 percent for toddlers ages 1 to 4, according to the sheriff’s department.
The one-year grant from the Tennessee Governor’s Office of Highway Safety covers the cost of a 10-seat passenger van and the salaries of three certified child passenger safety technicians — Sharon Patten, Janet Howerton and Becky Campbell.
The trio has worked with child seat safety for eight years, Patten said. They contact churches, schools, day cares, hospitals and other agencies that work with children to help show parents proper use of safety seats.
TO PARTICIPATEFor information on the SafeJourney program or to schedule a technician visit, call 423-893-3503.
Three sheriff’s deputies are also trained in safety-seat installation as a part of the newly formed SafeJourney unit in the department, which will manage the program.
The grant funds not only work in Hamilton County but throughout the Cumberland Region, which encompasses counties from the Kentucky border to Chattanooga.