HOME SAFETY LITERACY PROJECT IN-STATE EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOPS

*See photo caption at the bottom of the page.

Home Safety Literacy Project Implemented in Three High-Risk States

With support from a 2006 Fire Prevention and Safety grant, HSC is introducing a program to pilot test in-state educational workshops to expand the Home Safety Literacy Project in three states that have exceptionally high fire-death rates: Arkansas, South Carolina and Tennessee. The Arkansas workshop was held January 10, 2008 in Little Rock.

The Arkansas Team includes:

Douglas A. Brown, BS, AAS, NREMT-B, Arkansas Children’s Hospital; Little Rock
Marie Bruno, Arkansas Literacy Councils, Inc.; Little Rock
Jimmy Parks, MS, RN, The Burn Center at Arkansas Children’s Hospital; Little Rock

Community Partners:
Clarksville Adult Education Center; Johnson County
Ozark Literacy Council, Inc.; Fayetteville
Fayetteville Fire Department; Fayetteville
Literacy Council of North Central Arkansas
Chicot County Literacy Council; Lake Village
Johnson County RFD #1

LITTLE ROCK, ARK (January 21, 2008) -- Six communities in Arkansas are preparing to launch a new home safety campaign designed for adults with low literacy skills. The counties participating in the project include Chicot, Johnson, Searcy, Sharp, Stone and Washington. The project is supported by a state team made up of representatives from Arkansas Literacy Councils and Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, Ozark Literacy Council in Fayetteville, the Fayetteville Fire Department, and Johnson County Rural Fire District #1 in Clarksville.

Safety and literacy representatives from these communities completed their initial training on how to implement the project on January 10th in Little Rock. During the next month they will launch projects designed to work with adults who have limited reading skills or are learning to speak and understand English. The project will help adults acquire basic fire and emergency preparedness information that can help reduce deaths and injuries to them and their families.

The project will use the model and materials developed by the Home Safety Council in Washington, D.C., in partnership with ProLiteracy Worldwide in Syracuse, New York, and the Fire Protection and Safety Technology program at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. Students will receive the safety instruction as part of their regular literacy or English-as-a-Second-Language instruction.

Safety agency representatives in the six counties will support this instruction through activities such as class presentations, installation of smoke alarms and provision of information about disasters and emergencies most likely to occur in the local area.

These representatives will partner with the Chicot County Literacy Council, Lake Village; the Johnson County Adult Education Center, Clarksville; the Literacy Council of North Central Arkansas, Leslie; the Sharp County Literacy Council, Hardy; and Ozark Literacy Council, Fayetteville.

"This is an exciting new way to reach a high risk audience that we have often overlooked in the past. Many times we have published and passed out safety materials full of great information," says Jimmy Parks, a nurse in the Burn Center at Arkansas Children's Hospital, "without a thought to the fact that many people couldn't read the material. We had noble intentions but a lot of our pamphlets just end up in the trash-not because people don't care but because the text just wasn't helpful for some people. Now I think we have some material and a plan that will really make a difference in preventing fire-related injuries."

Arkansas Literacy Councils and several of the state's local literacy councils have experience working with ProLiteracy to test national projects, such as training for tutor trainers, data reporting technologies, and tutor training technologies for adult literacy volunteer tutors. "We are always eager to foster partnerships for projects that will help our literacy councils better help their students," said Marie Bruno, executive director of Arkansas Literacy Councils. "The more relevant the subject matter, the easier it is for our volunteer tutors and adult education teachers to engage students in learning. This project is a perfect example - fire safety and disaster preparedness is relevant to all of us."

The funding for the development and field testing of the national materials and model came from Assistance to Firefighters Prevention and Safety Grants, administered by the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"The challenge of communicating safety messages to people with varying reading levels cannot be overstated," says Home Safety Council President Meri-K Appy. "For example, ProLiteracy staff tested a sampling of current public fire safety materials and determined that messages commonly used by U.S. fire departments are written between a 6th and 11th grade reading level. That's well beyond what 90 million adults in the U.S. can read.

"This program will help meet the needs by connecting the fire service and other safety agencies with local literacy providers through a systematic community outreach and education program," said Appy. "Together, these partners will make a powerful team."

For more information about the national program, visit www.homesafetyliteracyproject.org>. For information about how it is being implemented in Arkansas, contact Jimmy Parks at the Burn Center at Arkansas Children's Hospital parksjc@archildrens.org

Arkansas Children's Hospital is the only pediatric medical center in Arkansas and one of the largest in the United States serving children from birth to age 21. The campus spans 28 city blocks and houses 292 beds, a staff of approximately 500 physicians, 80 residents in pediatrics and pediatric specialties and more than 4,000 employees. The private, nonprofit healthcare facility boasts an internationally renowned reputation for medical breakthroughs and intensive treatments, unique surgical procedures and forward-thinking medical research - all dedicated to fulfilling our mission of enhancing, sustaining and restoring children's health and development. For more information, visit www.archildrens.org.

*Main Photo

Front Row, left to right: Diana Brodie, Literacy Council of North Central Arkansas/Leslie; Dayna Hilton, Johnson County RFD #1/Clarksville; David Williams, Fayetteville Fire Department; Jimmy Parks, The Burn Center, Arkansas Children's Hospital/Little Rock; Marie Bruno, Arkansas Literacy Councils, Inc./Little Rock; and Chris Lynch, Fayetteville Fire Department.

Back Row, left to right: Linn Hartman, Ben Fire Department; Marti Hampton, Arkansas Literacy Councils Board of Directors/Little Rock; Norma Hartman, Ben Fire Department; Shirley Freeman, Johnson County Adult Education/Clarksville; Paula Shaffer, Chicot County Literacy Council/Lake Village; Jim Allen, Ozark Literacy Council/Fayetteville; Deb Meisch, Ozark Literacy Council/Fayetteville; Brian, Amanda, and Cathryn Reagan, Evening Shade Volunteer Fire Department and Sharp County Literacy Council, Evening Shade; Susan Vorwald, Literacy Council of North Central Arkansas/Leslie; Doug Brown, Emergency Management Coordinator, Arkansas Children's Hospital/Little Rock; (David and Peg); Kleeman O'Leary, Chicot County Adult Education/Dermott; Jack Rossmaier, Johnson County RFD#1 Fire Corps/Clarksville.