The leading cause of death in children up to 14 years old is preventable injuries.

So why aren't more children saved each year by learning how to stay safe?

The Kosciusko County Safe Kids Chapter is working to educate parents and the community in ways to help keep children safe.

Safe Kids is a group of volunteer organizations whose representatives meet once a month to discuss ways they can help educate a community to prevent childhood accidents.

The national coalition is working to reduce the number of children who are injured or die from motor vehicle and pedestrian injuries, bike crashes, fires, drownings, poisonings, chokings, shootings and falls. Safe Kids says that each year, nearly 6,700 children under 14 die and more than 50,000 become permanently disabled from unintentional injuries.

The Kosciusko County Safe Kids is concentrating specifically on bicycle and car safety. Each year in Kosciusko County, preventable injuries kill and disable more children than all childhood diseases combined, according to Safe Kids.

The local chapter had a boost to begin since Safety Fest began five years ago in Warsaw. Many original members of Safe Kids are those who were active with the yearly summer fest. Those groups who began the annual event to teach kids and parents about safety were committed to starting a community program that would continue the education year-round.

However, Safe Kids is looking for even more support.

"We want countywide involvement because it is a countywide program," says Darlene Eherenman, volunteer coordinator for the chapter. "We have information for businesses and clubs if they want to know, or a member would talk to the groups."

Organizations that serve as part of the chapter include the Sheriff's Department, Warsaw Police Department, Multi-Township EMS, Kosciusko Community Hospital and the Indiana Lakeland Girl Scout Council.

Eherenman spearheaded the move to bring Safe Kids to Kosciusko County. She was a member of the Elkhart Safe Kids Coalition for three years. This county had no education for proper use of car seats, and Eherenman's concern for car seat safety evolved into the Safe Kids program.

"I felt it was important to get education here and training and inspection," she says.

She says four out of five car seats are improperly installed, according to national statistics, and she says that inspections show that Kosciusko County is as bad as the national statistics.

When they joined the national coalition of Safe Kids, the Kosciusko group received grant moneys and 125 new bike helmets and 75 car seats free to give to those in need.

They also received a $1,000 start-up grant through the state coordinator. The grant funds are provided through the Automotive Safety for Children Program, which receives funding from the Governor's Council on Impaired and Dangerous Driving.

The Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department agreed to be the lead agency for Safe Kids to provide a mailing address and commitment to program safety.

Safe Kids is working with GM on the "Buckle-Up Program," a five-year program to give car seats and financial support to Safe Kids. In return, the local Safe Kids train at least one person at a GM dealership to conduct car-seat safety inspections. Then Safe Kids holds a car safety inspection at the dealership so anyone have the car seat installation inspected for free. Safe Kids receives grant money with each check and allows them to get information to the public on the proper use of car seats.

If an organization or business would like to join or support safety in Kosciusko County children, they should contact Eherenman at the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department.

The next monthly meeting of Safe Kids will be at the Nye Youth Cabin on Center Lake, Warsaw, at noon Jan. 7. [[In-content Ad]]