PALO ALTO, Calif-- Installing 1000 car seats is a daunting task, but technicians at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford have accomplished the feat in less than nine months. The 'Safely Home' car seat fitting station—one of the only such programs in California based at a children’s hospital—was initiated after a pilot study at Packard Hospital showed that parents who watch a trained technician install their child’s car seat are more likely to remember how to do it safely themselves. The process is surprisingly complicated.  

“When I first started training for the ‘Safely Home’ project I thought ‘How hard could it be?’” said Packard Hospital’s community outreach liaison Benjamin Arias. But after about 32 hours of intense training, provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Arias, who is now a certified child passenger safety technician, changed his tune. “It was like taking a drink of water from a fire hose,” he admitted. “Not all car seats are compatible with every vehicle, and the written instructions are often not clear. There are certain tricks to learn, like how to apply pressure to specific points on the seat, which vary according to the model.”

“Close to 90 percent of all car seats are not installed correctly,” said Nancy Sanchez, Community Relations Manager at Packard. “Ben walks the parents through methodically and gently, showing them how to put the car seat in the car, and how to fasten the restraints around the child.”

Even engineers can be baffled when it comes to installing the seats. One father sought Arias’ help after resorting to homemade wooden frame and bungee cords in a futile attempt to securely tighten his child’s car seat after trying in vain to follow the written instructions that had come with the seat. Arias showed him how to correctly install the car seat without the extra equipment, much to the man’s relief.

“Parents love this service,” said Arias. “They’re very grateful. Sometimes we’ll have people come in who say ‘I’ve done everything; there’s nothing more you can show me about the seat.’ After we go through the fitting they’ll say ‘Wow, I guess I didn’t know it all.’”

Parents interested in the service, which is stationed in the hospital’s parking garage at 725 Welch Rd. in Palo Alto, should make an appointment by calling 650-736-2981. Sessions usually take about 30-40 minutes, during which Arias and other certified technicians demonstrate how to properly install the car seat, how to fasten the straps around the child, and discuss other child passenger safety issues such as using cargo nets to safely secure loose items in vans and SUVs.
 
About Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital
Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford is a 264-bed hospital devoted to the care of children and expectant mothers. Providing pediatric and obstetric medical and surgical services and associated with Stanford School of Medicine, LPCH offers patients locally, regionally and nationally the full range of health-care programs and services – from preventive and routine care to the diagnosis and treatment of serious illness and injury. For more information about LPCH, please visit www.lpch.org.