Contact: Ray Cuellar
720.641.8561 (cell)
rcuellar@pridemark.net
45 percent decline in accidental injury death rate of children 14 years and under since 1987 but accidental injury remains #1 killer of kids
WHO: Safe Kids Denver Metro Coalition and Calvary Apostolic Church
WHAT: Safe Kids Denver Metro, in celebration of National Safe Kids Week, and with support from the Calvary Apostolic Church, is hosting a child safety event featuring interactive safety activities including bicycle skills training, safety in and around cars, water safety, poison prevention, Denver Fire Department’s smoke house and more. Children and adults will learn and practice many injury prevention skills during the event. Certified child passenger safety technicians will teach children and parents how to determine whether their child is big enough to graduate from a booster seat to an adult safety belt. The event is free.
WHEN: Saturday, May 17, 2008, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
WHERE: Calvary Apostolic Church parking lot, 5900 East Yale Ave., Denver 80222.
WHY: The accidental injury death rate of children 14 and under has declined by 45 percent in the United States since 1987, yet accidental injury remains the nation’s leading killer of kids, according to a new national report release by Safe Kids USA. In 2005, 66 Colorado children died from accidental injuries and 20,279 Colorado children 14 years and younger in 2006 were hospitalized. The majority of these injuries could have been prevented.
Safe Kids Denver Metro works to prevent accidental childhood injury, the leading killer of children 14 years and under. Its members include individuals from over 50 health and safety agencies and organizations throughout the Denver metropolitan area many who will be participating in this event.
For more information, visit www.thechildrenshospital.org/safekidsor call 720.777.8412.
Safe Kids Denver Metro works to prevent accidental childhood injury, the leading killer of children 14 years and under. Its members include individuals from over 50 health and safety agencies and organizations throughout the Denver metropolitan area. Safe Kids Denver Metro is a member of Safe Kids Worldwide, a global network of organizations dedicated to preventing accidental injury. Safe Kids Denver Metro was founded in 1998 and is led by The Children's Hospital.
###
back to the top
Shooter in the School
by Jason Kotas
Wednesday, April 9th was just like any other day. That was until the fire department responded to two separate fires at Arvada West High School. One of the fire fighters was taken hostage along with 8 students and two gunmen negotiated with police as Jeffco SWAT took up positions around the school. It was an intense and crazy afternoon.
This is an all too familiar scene these days in American schools and that was exactly why this scenario was being used as a drill for all the agencies involved. Pridemark sent over a few ambulances and TL’s Spoons and Travis. Jeffco SWAT, Arvada Fire and Police where also there. It was an amazing exercise in communication and mayhem.
There was an initial briefing where very basic info was given out. The majority of the units were kept in the dark as to the details to instill some realism. I was granted permission to be inside of the school and take photographs of the event. It was an amazing operation and lengthy steps were taking to provide a real sense of reality.
Arvada Fire responded first to the fire alarms and there were smoke machines throughout the school, so we all had to navigate eerily empty smoke filled halls. Once Fire had reached the actual fire locations two shadowy figures emerged from a hallway cussing and yelling. They grabbed a fire fighter and pulled him into a side room. I knew it was fake yet my heart was racing, it was intense.
Fire evacuated and Jeffco SWAT sent in two teams of the meanest, scariest and amazing looking officers to do battle. They methodically cleared halls, stepped over broken tables and chairs and found their way to the back hall where the bad guys were…
The negotiations finally broke down and entry was made. Everyone in the rooms was handcuffed and searched then taken out. From the first fire alarm till the handcuffs being put on took over 5 hours. WOW.
It was a great training session and all involved did a great job. Hopefully we will never have to deal with
this, but its good to know we have some experience, even if it was just a drill.
Images
