Child safety seat program marks 15 years of keeping children safe

The Pediatric Trauma Injury Prevention Program at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital, Safe Kids Dauphin County and Sutliff Auto Group are celebrating 15 years of partnership in providing child safety seat inspections. During that time, the program has checked more than 8,000 car seats and provided some 400 car seats to families in need from across central Pennsylvania.

Families can schedule appointments to have car seats checked by certified technicians at one of three locations: Sutliff Volkswagen in Harrisburg, the Lower Paxton Township Police Department and the Life Lion hangar on the campus of Penn State Hershey Medical Center.

“We have found that 4 out of 5 car seats are installed incorrectly so there is a strong need to continue our mission of protecting children in vehicles during travel,” said Shannon DePatto, a health educator with the Pediatric Trauma Injury Prevention Program and Safe Kids Dauphin County. 

The longest-standing inspection location is the present-day site of Sutliff Volkswagen.

“Partnerships with agencies such as PennDOT and local and State Police have been crucial, especially for training new car seat technicians to reach out to our communities,” said Sue Rzucidlo, pediatric trauma and injury prevention program manager at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital.

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