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KPTC Adds Distracted Driver Program

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Foundation President Joe Corace presents $32,000 check to Cohen Children's Medical Center to support Distracted Driving Program.

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Student using a distracted driving simulator.

The KPTC Foundation at Cohen Children's Medical Center was named a Million Dollar Donor after it donated $32,000 to support the Hospital's Distracted Driving program.

This most recent donation follows a $100,000 donation which celebrated Kiwanis International's 100th anniversary.

For over its 20 years, the KPTC Foundation has financially supported the Pediatric Trauma Center at the hospital which began as North Shore Hospital, became North Shore-LIJ and now operates as Cohen Children's Medical Center under the umbrella of Northwell.

In the early years the focus of the hospital was to improve treatment. Our funds supported the purchase of medical equipment and the training of first responders and hospital personal on the specific needs of pediatric trauma patients. In the later years, the hospital's focus has shifted towards prevention.

The refocusing on prevention led to the creation of the KPTC Service Leadership Committee. The committee's members became trainers for the Safe Kids program under the supervision of the hospital's health educators. The committee has expanded the Safe Kids program through the use of a bike riding robot and a working traffic light and a second robot that teaches swim safety. These teaching materials were provided by the generosity of the Joey Foundation.

To date, the KPTC Service Leadership Committee has trained nearly 100 Key Clubbers and Circle Kers to present the Safe Kids curriculum and presented the program to more than 1,000 elementary school students.

The KPTC Foundation's newest partnership with Cohen Children's Medical Center targets high school students and distracted driving.

Distracted driving is the number one cause of trauma for high school and college aged students. Six US teens die each day from motor vehicle accidents. This is preventable by creating a culture of safety around driving. It simply makes no sense to fight to eliminate pediatric trauma for elementary school children through Safe Kids but let those kids die behind the wheel in high school or college! Therefore, when the hospital asked for the KPTC Foundation's help with implementing a distracted driving program, the foundation went all in.

The foundation committed $32,000 to fund the program, and made a commitment to replace that money within five years.

The KPTC Foundation will provide the funds for three distracted driving simulators and the required software. We will also buy containers for safe storage and transport. The KPTC Service Leadership Committee will fundraise for a fourth simulator which will be used by the committee during their newest safety lessons in distracted driving.

Once the simulators arrive, the hospital's health educator will train the KPTC Service Leadership Committee members on their use. Educational research has shown the power of peer to peer teaching. Having teens (Key Clubbers and Circle Kers) teach teens about the dangers of distracted driving not only gives the hospital's health educator a cadre of assistant teachers, it also adds the power of peer to peer instruction.

Once a fourth simulator is purchased, the plan calls for the hospital and KPTC Service Leadership Committee to share the simulators so that four simulators can be brought to a high school to allow greater flow of students through the simulator station and on to other distracted driving learning stations.

This all boils down to the need for more fundraising dollars. This first year, we need to fundraise our traditional $50,000 for the hospital plus $7,000 to return to the foundation plus $10,000 for the fourth simulator.

You will see several new KPTC fundraisers plus a series of fundraisers from the KPTC Service Leadership Committee:


(Posted August 4, 2016)

 

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