Parents and grandparents received training on proper installation of child car seats Wednesday at a clinic in Derby run by Griffin Hospital’s Valley Parish Nursing and Community Outreach Program.
More than 40 people registered for the clinic held in the hospital’s Community Outreach parking lot, and several more drivers stopped in, said Cathi Kellett, coordinator, Safe Kids Greater Naugatuck Valley. Kellett is also a parish nurse.
She said 18 certified car seat technicians were scheduled to work throughout the six-hour clinic. After drivers were trained on the safe use of car seats, technicians installed a new one in their cars.
Kellett said the event could not have happened without the financial support from the Derby Lodge of Elks, Safe Kids Greater Naugatuck Valley, and the Valley Community Foundation.
Naugatuck resident Kristina Lintgeris was on hand to learn child car seat safety. She needed a new car seat for her son, Giovanni Bratchell, 2.
Certfiied car-seat technician Meg McCabe worked with Lintgeris, explaining how to install a child seat.
McCabe works for the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford.
“Not only do we install the seats, we teach people,” she said. “It’s both installation and education.”
Lintgeris said the clinic “is awesome for parents who either can’t afford a car seat, or who want the knowledge.”
Derby resident Luba Lypen was there with her granddaughter, Maja Lypen, almost 4. Car seat instructor Monica Lucas worked with Lypen.
“She’e excellent,” Lypen said of Lucas. “She did such a good job of explaining this to me. I just want to make sure my granddaughter is safe.”
Derby Elks Lodge Past President Jerry Coolidge said the Lodge also supports a car seat clinic at an annual health and safety fair at the Boys & Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valley in Shelton.
“The Elks statewide donates $100,000 to the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center every year,” he said. There are 33 Elks Lodges in the state, Coolidge said.
Kellett said people who had registered for the clinic hailed from as far away as Branford, Bristol, Torrington, and Newtown.
“At Griffin we help everybody,” she said. “We’ve gotten that reputation that we don’t turn anyone away.”
Daun Barrett, director, Valley Parish Nursing and Community Outreach, said the clinic represents a “wonderful collaboration” with her program, the Derby Elks Lodge, Valley Community Foundation, and Safe Kids Greater Naugatuck Valley.
