By Melanie Jacob
Journal Editor
With the aid of other organizations, Safe Communities Humboldt & Area held their busiest Progressive Agriculture Safety Day on Oct. 1 at the Humboldt Convention Centre and Uniplex.
The event was a full day session during which elementary school students from Grades 1-4 from Humboldt and surrounding communities could learn about safety. Topics focused on the most common types of injuries, including falls, poisonings, burns, drownings, head injuries, and motor vehicle accidents.
"All of these topics are ones that kids will come across if they live on a farm, visit a farm, or spend time with friends and family on one," said Tracey Shewciw, executive director for Safe Communities Humboldt. "You don't have to live on a farm to come into contact with these injuries."
The kids were divided into groups and led around during the day by group leaders. At each station, they heard professional presentations and learned about safe behaviour. They learned about fire safety and how to make fire alarms work at one area and learned how to properly wash their hands at another.
"After the presentations, the kids went back to their classrooms and were given a report that they had to complete with their teacher and draw a picture about something they learned," said Shewciw. "It was really good timing for this program being that this week was Fire Prevention Week."
While this was their sixth annual event, Shewciw said it's been their biggest one yet. Since they can't reach every child in the area at a time, they usually go around from school to school each year. Last year's was held in LeRoy and had an attendance of about 180. This year, that number rocketed up to 280.
Of course, more attendance is always a good thing, but Shewciw said there's always a concern with sponsorship.
"One of the challenges is finding funds for this program," she said. "It's a really good program, but that's always a challenge."
Nevertheless, Agriculture Safety Day is just one of the many events Safe Communities puts on to education youth. Other upcoming events include the P.A.R.T.Y. program for youth, anti-bullying program, and rail safety.
"It's difficult to teach adults about injury prevention and get them to 'change their ways,'" said Shewciw. "If we can reach people at the child and youth level then they will grow up with certain understandings around preventing injuries. Our hope is to reduce the number of preventable injuries in the future."
