News and Updates

In July, Safe Kids Washoe County (SKWC), led by Renown Health, donated $7,500 to REMSA Health’s Point of Impact Free Car Seat Inspection program. SKWC provides dedicated and caring staff, operation support, and other resources to assist in achieving one goal: keeping your kids safe. Based on the needs of the community, this coalition implements evidence-based programs, such as car-seat checkups, safety workshops, and sports clinics, that help parents and caregivers prevent childhood injuries.

More than half of car seats are installed incorrectly. Programs like Point of Impact provide a necessary resource for parents to have car seats inspected and installed correctly and allow them to be educated by a certified child passenger safety technician (CPST). We inspect the seat for defects and recalls, check for expiration date, proper fit and, most importantly, how to install the seat into the vehicle correctly. Ultimately, we want to reduce the risk of severe injury or death in the event of a car crash. 

Because there is no other free program like this in Washoe County, on average, the Point of Impact program each month inspects and installs about 45 seats and distributes about 20 car seats to local families in need.  

Based on call and email volume from new parents to both Renown and REMSA Health, it was clear to both agencies that this program is an ongoing need for our community. Though Point of Impact has been around since 1998, this donation helped us fund a bilingual CPST, provide free inspection appointments in July and August and purchase car seats for those in need. In addition, the program is partially grant-funded to provide training materials, training conferences, a 36-hour course for CPST classes for two future instructions, continuing education classes and recertification classes. 

In addition to grants and donations, the Point of Impact program would not be a success without the volunteers who give up their personal time to ensure the safety of our community’s children. All of these volunteers have gone through the 36-hour course training and keep up with their certification and CEU to ensure they are constantly updated with newer car seat models that come on the market. 

We feel eternally grateful to SKWC, Renown Health and all of the volunteers who allow us to provide this program for our community. To see our upcoming inspection dates or make an appointment, please click here or visit us on Twitter for updates.