RWJUH Safety Ambassador Program Now in Its Seventh Year
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – Safety superheroes and, perhaps more impressively, teenagers who appear as themselves will spend several months this school year visiting younger district peers just beginning their academic journeys with the goal of teaching them valuable lessons to help keep them and their loved ones safe.
Through Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital’s Safety Ambassador Program (SAP), high school juniors and seniors are trained to present injury prevention lessons to first and second graders in their respective communities. This school year, 23 high schools in central New Jersey – including, for the first time, Colonia High School - have signed up.
This Friday, October 10, more than 200 students, their school advisors and program volunteers will gather to learn about pedestrian safety, fall prevention, safety in and around cars and wheeled sports. Students will explore ways to creatively and successfully convey key messages to first and second graders. The SAP Safety Summit starts at 8:30 a.m. in the hospital courtyard.
“This is an opportunity for high school students to volunteer in a leadership capacity and to act as role models for younger children in their community,” explains Carol Lavitt, coordinator, Safety Ambassador Program at RWJUH.
The SAP program is funded with a grant from the State Farm Youth Advisory Board. In 2013, the YAB received a total of 804 applications, and RWJUH’s Injury Prevention Program was among only 64 to receive funding.
Lavitt added that this year, parents of the first and second graders are being asked to enroll in a three-year research study to help RWJUH determine the impact of the SAP on decreasing common childhood injuries.
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