Home Safety Council Builds "Expert Network" For Safety Educators
The Expert Network launched in mid-2004 and has already drawn a community of 1,800 community safety advocates, said HSC President Meri-K Appy.
The online service provides members with timely information on safety research and education.
"The idea behind the Expert Network was to provide a way for community safety advocates, especially fire departments, to get ahold of well researched, high quality educational materials for use in their community," Appy said, "because we know that one of the biggest barriers in any outreach is a limited budget to get the tools they need."
Appy said members currently receive materials for free and she hopes to keep it that way. The HSC makes the materials available through donations, corporate sponsorships and federal grants.
"We work to identify sponsors of various educational tools, and the Expert Network is the vehicle to get them to the community level," she said.
"We've already got 1,800 members signed up and we hope that'll just grow and grow." She said the majority of members are from the fire service, the HSC's primary partner in safety education.
"We know what a good job they do in educating people, how they're held in such high regard in the community, and we know they often struggle to find the right tools to use," she said.
All of the educational tools that the HSC creates or distributes tie back to their research called, "The State of Home Safety in America," Appy said. The materials target audiences including low literacy adults, children and seniors.
Those who sign up will receive materials including the fire safety video, "A Burning Issue: Is Your Family Safe?" by the Wisconsin Alliance for Fire Safety. The 30-minute video features ABC-TV home improvement editor Ron Hazelton, and accompanying lesson plans are available online.
Members will also receive brochures and posters on home safety preparedness, safety activities for kids and a copy of "The State of Home Safety in America."
Other materials planned for this year include guides for reaching low literacy adults, Spanish language materials, pictographic tools, techniques for teaming up with local literacy experts and a video for children in both English and Spanish.
Some of the Expert Network tools are designed using grants unrelated to the fire service, but are still beneficial to the fire service, Appy said.
For example, a video and instruction guide created for senior centers can also be used by fire service educators. The video, called "Safe Steps," is designed to reduce the almost 6,000 falls that occur each year in the home, primarily among senior citizens.
"The fire service, first responders, are responding to these so they have a role in preventing them as well," Appy said.
The 12-minute video explains things seniors can do to reduce their risk of falls, such as install grab bars, improve lighting, choose appropriate shoes, maintain physical agility, and get their list of medications reviewed.
The Expert Network's web site is also updated often with its own content as well as helpful links, to create a one-stop shopping resource for public educators. Appy said this can include information on timely issues such as the recent tsunami in southeast Asia.
"That's because often the fire safety educator in the community is perceived as a safety expert not only on fire, but on other things," she said. "Our helpful links are designed to put members in touch with the things they need, to help them be the best they can be in their job."
"There's just no downside to it," she said. "It's totally free."
Appy said the reason members need to sign up is so that the HSC can identify people who are serious about using the materials, and can go back to them to act as a service.
"If something is happening in a certain part of the country we look to see if there's an Expert Network member there so that we can say, for example, 'the Great Safety Adventure is coming to your town,'" Appy said.
The Great Safety Adventure is a several million dollar project sponsored by Lowes, and supported by the HSC that features two touring exhibits that teach home safety skills.
Appy noted that Expert Network memberships are not limited to one per fire department - multiple stations from one city may each sign up. "We're not conserving for the future. We'll worry about running out if it ever happens," Appy said. The HSC only asks that members not sign up to build a library, but to go out and use the materials.
Appy said in addition to firefighters, members include public health officials, physicians and others. However, the HSC is only marketing to the fire service.
"If we start saying it's available to anyone, then I'm sure that we could be overwhelmed," Appy said. "We haven't done that because we really want the fire service to know about this first."
She said the HSC estimates the number of full time public educators in the country at about 2,000 but said many others are called upon to do education part time.
"Almost every fire department does something," she said. "There are 30,000 fire departments out there. I'd like to think that in every single one of them there is someone, that at some point is going to be educating the community. Those are the people I want to try to help," she said, "and all they have to do is sign up."
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