Toyota and Cincinnati Children’s Partner with Children’s Health to Launch Buckle Up for Life in North Texas

Toyota and Cincinnati Children’s Partner with Children’s Health to Launch Buckle Up for Life in North Texas

Read More

National Education Program Expands to Toyota’s New Hometown to Help Keep Kids Safe 

Dallas (July 21, 2016) – What if there was a way to help prevent a leading cause of childhood death, but three out of four of us were doing it wrong? The startling truth is that 75 percent of car seats in the U.S. are not used correctly.[1] Additionally, 78.6% of children inspected at The Safety Source-Injury Prevention Service’s 2013 child passenger safety program at Children’s Medical Center Dallas were riding incorrectly, or worse, arrived at inspection stations unrestrained.[2]
 
To help address this, Toyota and Cincinnati Children’s have partnered with Children’s Health, the leading pediatric health care system in North Texas, to launch the national education program Buckle Up for Life in North Texas. During the six week program, trained specialists work closely with parents and caregivers to teach them about all aspects of car seats, booster seats and seat belts. The program is offered in English and Spanish and provides free seats to families in need.
 
Buckle Up for Life is a great example of how Toyota partners with others to help solve problems in our communities,” said Mike Goss, General Manager, Social Innovation, Toyota Motor North America. “One of our deepest priorities is helping people get to their destinations safely. We know Buckle Up for Life helps protect kids and we are excited to share it with families in our new hometown of Plano and in North Texas.”     
 
“According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, automobile crashes are one of the leading causes of accidental death for children,” said Christopher J. Durovich, president and chief executive officer of Children’s Health. “Injury prevention and education are critical components of our mission to make life better for children. The partnership with Toyota and Cincinnati Children’s further extends our care beyond the hospital walls – teaching families about proper car seat safety with the ultimate goal of preventing unnecessary injury.”
 
Children’s Health joins leading children’s hospitals across the country that have offered Buckle Up for Life. The program has reached more than 30,000 people in 16 cities, including New York, Memphis, Phoenix, Chicago, Cincinnati, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Orange County, and San Antonio – and expands to new cities each year. Toyota has provided funding for over 40,000 car seats for families in need.
 
“For some people, car seats aren’t always the easiest things to figure out – from choosing the right one to making sure the straps are tight enough,” said Gloria Del Castillo, child passenger safety expert at Cincinnati Children’s and senior outreach specialist for Buckle Up for Life. “But in some situations, a properly installed seat can mean the difference between life and death in a crash. That’s why Buckle Up for Life is so important. Our children deserve no less.” 
 
Buckle Up for Life was created by Toyota and Cincinnati Children’s in 2004. In one city alone, the program nearly tripled the use of proper car seats among participating families. Community organizations that have offered the program say they have observed a marked improvement in participants’ auto safety behaviors, including:
 

  • The average rate of children unrestrained in cars decreased from one in four to fewer than one in 20;
  • The average rate of children in car seats increased from roughly one in four to one in two; and
  • The use of seat belts by adults increased by an average of 13 percent, from 68 percent to 81 percent.

For more information about Buckle Up for Life, please visit www.buckleupforlife.org.

 


[1] National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, http://www.nhtsa.gov/Safety/LATCH   
[2] Injury Prevention Service, Children’s Medical Center & Department of Pediatrics, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas Texas

About Children’s Health
 
Children’s HealthSM is the eighth-largest pediatric health care provider in the nation and the leading pediatric health care system in North Texas, providing a full spectrum of health care services – from daily wellness and primary care to specialty visits and critical care. Holding eight disease-specific care certifications from The Joint Commission, Children’s Health has been consistently named one of the nation’s top pediatric providers by U.S. News & World Report. The Children’s Health system includes the flagship hospital Children’s Medical Center Dallas, as well as Children’s Medical Center Plano, eight specialty centers, 20 Children’s Health Pediatric Group primary care practices, nine Our Children’s House rehabilitation facilities, home health, physician services and the Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern. For more information, please visit www.childrens.com.
 
About Toyota
 
Toyota (NYSE:TM), the world's top automaker and creator of the Prius, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through our Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands. Over the past 50 years, we’ve built more than 25 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ more than 40,000 people (more than 32,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (1,500 in the U.S.) sold more than 2.5 million cars and trucks (more than 2.2 million in the U.S.) in 2013 – and about 80 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 20 years are still on the road today.
 
Toyota partners with philanthropic organizations across the country, with a focus on education, safety and the environment. As part of this commitment, we share the company’s extensive know-how garnered from building great cars and trucks to help community organizations and other nonprofits expand their ability to do good. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyotanewsroom.com.
 
About Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
 
Cincinnati Children’s, a non-profit, pediatric, academic medical center established in 1883, is internationally recognized for improving child health and transforming delivery of care through fully integrated, globally recognized research, education and innovation. It is one of the top three recipients of pediatric research grants from the National Institutes of Health, ranked third in the nation among all Honor Roll hospitals in U.S. News and World Report’s Best Children’s Hospitals, and a research and teaching affiliate of the University of Cincinnati’s College of Medicine. Its patient population includes the eight-county primary service area covering parts of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. A destination for children with complex medical conditions, it also served patients from all 50 states and nearly 70 countries during the past year. Additional information can be found at www.cincinnatichildrens.org.
Connect on the Cincinnati Children’s blog, via Facebook and on Twitter.

Amy Schultz, 646-805-2825 for Buckle Up for Life
[email protected]
 
Heidi Cannella, 214-456-8330 for Children’s Health
[email protected]

Tags

Related Images

Add to Cart

Buckle Up for Life 005

The proper use of car seats and booster seats can help prevent many child injuries and deaths. Photo: Buckleupforlife.org

Email Sign Up

Enter your email address below to sign up for email alerts.

*Indicates Required