An average of 5,000 children are transported by ambulance to Rainbow each year. Because the vast majority of ambulance cots are equipped with harnesses designed for adults, children traveling by ambulance are not optimally secured and are at increased risk of injury in the event of a crash or non-crash emergency maneuver. To reduce the risk that pediatric patients could incur additional injury on their trip to the hospital, Rainbow has purchased SafeGuard transportation devices for distribution to the hospital’s Critical Care Transport unit and EMS departments throughout a multi-county area. The restraints are specially designed for ambulance transport of children and can be easily adjusted to fit youngsters of varying sizes and weights, from 22 to 100 pounds.

Friday’s training, which runs from 9 a.m. through 10 a.m. at the Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital Performance Area, will include demonstrations of the new devices and education for EMS services on safe transport of children.

“We’re really excited about this opportunity to help protect injured kids in Northeast Ohio from further harm on their trip to the hospital,” said Thomas Vilt, Child Passenger Safety Coordinator for the Rainbow Injury Prevention Center, which is home to the region’s only Special Needs Transportation Program. “In my 27 years as a paramedic before joining the staff at Rainbow, I routinely saw children transported in cots with adult restraints that just didn’t fit them, or even held in the arms of parents without any restraint at all. Providing EMS personnel with restraints that are specially designed for child-sized bodies will make a world of difference in paramedics’ ability to keep kids safe on the ride to the hospital. The last thing anyone wants to see is an already fragile child being jostled in the back of an ambulance or subjected to the chance of additional injury in a crash or sudden stop.”

For more information, contact Tom Vilt, Rainbow Injury Prevention Center, at 216-983-1115 or Thomas.Vilt@UHhospitals.org.