Even if you don’t golf,
the Jane & Larry Glazer Memorial Golf Tournament to benefit Prevention 1st
is the place to be September 16! Silent auction items available at the
post-tournament dinner at Midvale Country Club include a trip to Hawaii, a
60-inch television, and golf packages for Irondequoit, Midvale, Brooklea and Seneca
Hickory Stick golf courses.
Also at the dinner, the winner will be drawn from
the raffle tickets now on sale for a trip for two to Hilton Head’s iconic Harbour Town Golf
Club. All proceeds from raffle ticket sales will support the Prevention 1st
Safe at Home scholarship fund, providing customized in-home safety training to
people with developmental disabilities.
Tickets for “dinner only” are available. Download the 2019 tournament brochure.
Safe at Home, which provides in-home safety
assessment and training to reduce the risks of fire and injury in the home, was
introduced to many parents, caregivers, teens and adults with intellectual and
development disabilities at the recent Next Steps conference sponsored by
AutismUp. The conference focused on transitioning to an adult life and living
more independently.
“The people who stopped by
our booth said they had never encountered anything like Safe at Home
before, and they seemed very impressed,” Safe at Home trainer Bob Crandall reported.
“One person also thought it would be good for her elderly mother who still
lives alone.”
All second-graders in Milwaukee Public Schools will be learning lessons from Prevention 1st’s Before the Fire: Prevention Works curriculum as part of their Learning Journeys. The free program includes lesson plans with learning objectives, activities, and links to resources.
Learning Journeys are beyond-the-classroom learning experiences. As part of theirs, more than 5,000 second-graders from 133 elementary schools will attend the Milwaukee Fire Departments Education Center’s Survive Alive House.
“The lessons in Before
the Fire: Prevention Works! will be excellent to use prior to and after
their Learning Journey”, said Michelle Wade, Learning Journeys Coordinator.
The free Before the Fire program was created by educators and fire safety experts to provide effective fire safety lesson plans for teachers, preschool and day care providers, parents and caregivers to teach children about fire, fire prevention, and escaping a fire.
In summer we all tend to kick
back and relax the rules a bit. It’s a great time of year, but to keep it safe
there are still a few rules worth keeping:
Always watch children when they’re in or near water. Pool Safely, a campaign launched by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to reduce childhood drownings, recommends designating an adult Water Watcher to supervise children in the water, even where there’s also a lifeguard. Watching should be their only task – they shouldn’t be reading, texting or playing games on their phone.
Looking for a game to keep young children occupied? Help Mikey Make It Out is a fun, interactive game that teaches life-saving home escape lessons. They can also read the storybook Mikey Makes a Mess online, in English or Spanish.
Leave fireworks to the pros, even where they’re legal. Here’s why.
While your fireplace isn’t getting used, call to schedule an annual chimney cleaning.
As cooking moves outside, enforce a “3-Foot Rule” just as you do for the stove. Keep children and pets at least three feet from the fire.
Summer is peak season for wildfires. Check the predicted risk for the area where you live (or plan to visit) here, and always stay tuned to local weather and news.
Find more tips about safe use of campfires, outdoor grills and firepits at flickitsafely.com.
Summer fun activities can get chaotic. To prevent falls, make sure you wipe up spills promptly, and remind everyone to pick up clutter, which can be a tripping hazard–especially toys. Get more fall prevention tips.
Wear a bike helmet, and make sure you and your children know the rules of the road.
In August 2018, the Rochester community experienced a sudden loss with the passing of Stephen D. Rogoff. Known for his compassion, humanity, and great ability to connect with others, Stephen was a tremendous friend to Prevention 1st. He co-founded the organization’s first major fund raiser–a Golf Tournament held at Midvale Country Club in 2013—including recruiting a committee, approaching local businesses to donate prizes, and obtaining dozens of tee sponsors.
In honor and memory of
the positive impact that Stephen Rogoff had on so many, his children — Scott, Brett and Robyn — along with their families and the Prevention 1st
Board of Directors have established the Stephen and Arlayne Rogoff Scholarship
Fund. Each year, $1,000 scholarships will be awarded to two recipients who
best demonstrate Stephen’s empathetic and actionable character.
How
to Apply
The scholarship
application requires an essay outlining the candidate’s personal experience
with a preventable injury or in-home danger and their plans to generate
awareness or educate others on such risks. For more information contact info@prevention1st.og.
Support
this Scholarship
If you should like to
honor Stephen’s memory or support this scholarship with a donation, click here to make an
online contribution.
Mail checks, payable to
Rochester Area Community Foundation (with Rogoff Scholarship in the Memo Line)
to 500 East Avenue, Rochester, NY 14607.
When third-grader Audrey Mathews won first prize for her age group in the Prevention 1st 2018/19 Fire Safety Poster Contest, she knew exactly what she wanted to do with her $50 prize money: she donated it to support her school district’s therapy dog.
Audrey’s parents say she has a love of service and therapy animals because they help keep people calm in emergencies. Audrey’s winning poster delivers a crucial message about responding when the smoke alarm goes off: “Don’t scream, don’t shout, keep calm and get out.”
As part of Audrey’s prize,
her classroom at Scribner Road Elementary School also received a $200 gift
certificate for art supplies.
You still have to provide other pieces of the safety puzzle.
Even smoke alarms with long-life batteries need testing.
Fire departments and injury prevention organizations like
Prevention 1st are celebrating the upcoming implementation of New
York State’s new smoke alarm requirements.
As of April 1, all smoke alarms sold in New York must have a 10-year, sealed,
non-removable battery, which will undoubtedly prevent a significant number of
fire deaths and serious injuries.
While most fires happen during the day, most fatal fires
occur at night. Having even one working
smoke alarm in your home reduces the chance of dying in a fire by more than
half. It is difficult to find a more
effective, accessible and affordable prevention tool, which is why most states
require them in the first place. Yet
people still die in fires on a regular basis.
Why?
Missing or dead batteries!
Well-meaning people, annoyed by the sound of a dying battery, or by one
that is doing its job around a smoky kitchen or steamy bathroom, take out the
battery. So do people who are in
immediate “need” of a battery for a remote control or other device. Regardless of reason, most people have every
intention of replacing that battery, but just don’t get around to it, with
sometimes tragic consequences.
Ten-year smoke alarms, with long-life batteries that are
sealed into the unit, will make a big difference in improving safety. But there are a few things New Yorkers need
to know before they install their new ones and forget about them for a decade.
Test your smoke alarm regularly. Long-life batteries are just that – but “long life” may not be ten years. Batteries can and do fail, so continue to test them once a month.
Keep it free of dirt and dust. Alarms are sensitive and finely tuned; like any appliance, they work better when clean! Use a vacuum hose or duster to remove damaging dirt.
Be ready to replace it before ten years is up. A 2008 CDC-commissioned study found that after ten years, 78% of smoke alarms with lithium batteries were that were installed through a public outreach program were still operational. That leaves 22% that were not. Keep testing!
Don’t forget the other pieces of the safety puzzle. The time to figure out who is helping children or elderly relatives escape from fire is not the middle of the night with alarms going off and smoke filling your home. Develop an exit plan with your family and practice it at least twice a year!
The new smoke alarms, while slightly more expensive, will be
well worth the cost in lives saved and injuries prevented. But they are not a cure-all, and taking a few
additional steps will help make your home and your family that much safer.
This article also appeared as an
op-ed piece by Prevention 1st president Molly Clifford in the March 23,2019 issue of the
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle.
Congratulations to our 1st Place Winners in each category: Rishaan Shah, Kindergarten, Scribner Road Elementary School Audrey Mathews, 3rd grade, Scribner Road Elementary School Julia Thomas, 5th grade, St. Joseph School
Honorable mentions go to: Hyoju Noh, Kindergarten, Cobbles Elementary School Adaya Sykes, 3rd grade, Sykes Family Homeschool Addison Zimmerman, 4th grade, Abelard Reynolds School #42
And congratulations to fifth-grader Fiston Heca, the lucky winner of a random drawing of all poster artists, who will get a ride on a firetruck to Abelard Reynolds School #42, courtesy of the Rochester Fire Department!
Prevention 1st would like to thank this year’s judges for their work in choosing this year’s winners from more than 200 entries from across the County: New York State Senator Joe Robach, Monroe County Fire Coordinator Steve Schalabba, Rochester Fire Marshal Christine Schryver, and the Memorial Art Gallery Education Director Marlene Hamman-Whitmore.
Posters were judged on both artistic merit and the impact of its fire safety message. All participants will receive a certificate and all posters will be displays at the following locations around the city and county during March:
Rochester Public Library Children’s Center (winners and honorable mentions) Monroe County Office Building Rochester City Hall Greater Rochester International Airport Rochester Museum and Science Center Eastview Mall The Mall at Greece Ridge Canandaigua National Bank Eastside Family YMCA
Prevention 1st Board Member Brett Rogoff will be honored at The Cooke School and Institute’s Food for Thought Gala in Manhattan next month. Cooke is recognizing Brett and his team at Strategic Group for their support and partnership in furthering the mission of the school, which provides special education services for students ages 5 through 21 who have mild-to-moderate cognitive or developmental disabilities and severe language-based learning disabilities. The Strategic Group team has hosted Cooke interns, providing these high school and young adult students with real-world work experiences that help them make the transition from the classroom, and find and pursue their passions.
Through Brett’s efforts, Prevention 1st in partnership with Community Health Strategies brought the BIC play safe be safe! fire safety program to The Cooke School. Originally designed for young children, the award-winning interactive program worked perfectly for this new audience of 14- to 18-year-olds who need to develop life skills.
