By Brandon Stoker
BYU students with children can splash into summer safely in Orem.
Utah County”s Safe Kids chapter is hosting the “Splash into Safety” event from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, May 8, at Orem City Center Park.
The free event, located at 400 E. Center Street, will host a number of fun and educational activities, including classes on water safety, poison prevention and bike safety. The program includes a continental breakfast during the first half hour.
Bonnie Hargreaves, public information officer for Utah County and health educator over injury prevention, said she hopes BYU students will take this fun opportunity to educate themselves and their children on water safety.
“All of our focus is water safety this year, but all of these safety issues are important: fire prevention, poison prevention and car seat use,” Hargreaves said. “All of these … are really important, and so we want them to come out and be educated on these safety issues.”
The program”s aim is to help parents and children learn the value of water safety. The event is significant, considering that drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional death among children ages one to four, Hargreaves said.
John Young, a graduate student in mechanical engineering, said it is vital for parents to pay attention to water safety.
“It”s so important to be safe in your home and around water,” he said. “My little girl likes to get into everything wherever we go, so we have to be especially careful around the water.”
Ten safety classes will rotate throughout the morning. Among these classes will be a boat safety class taught by a US Marine, a water safety activity called “Whales Tales” presented by the Red Cross, a CPR refresher class, a poison prevention class and an anti-tobacco education class.
Special guests will also make appearances at the event, including McGruff, the Red Cross Ready Dog and the Crash Test Dummies, Vince and Larry.
Susan Chapman, spokeswoman for the Utah County Health Department, said she highly endorses the event.
“We would like the married students who have children to come to this event because of their high interest in safety issues with their children,” Chapman said.
