Jan 3, 2004

A long, but worthwhile wait…
Parents flock to Almaden Lake Park to ensure children’s safety

By Carol Rosen
Editor

Despite high winds and menacing skies, a large number of parents and parents to be drove out to Almaden Lake Park on Dec. 6 to ensure their children’s safety while riding in cars. The four-hour Child Safety Day was a complete success with more than 60 cars and children’s car seats being checked and an additional 20 vouchers handed out for car and booster seats for those parents unable to afford them.

At the free and highly successful event, 62 parents and expectant parents had their car seats checked for safe installation and appropriateness and their cars checked for any risks to their children. Many waited patiently in line for an hour or more for the safety check, which takes about 60 minutes.

“We don’t just put the car seat in, the process takes a long time. We have to check the seat, make sure there hasn’t been a recall or if there has that the seat has been corrected. Then we check the car to ensure that the child will be safe traveling. Often, parents don’t think about mirrors that can break during an accident or cell phones flying at 55 miles per hour. We make sure that the children are safe,” said Laura Beth DeHority, a Kiwanis Club member and a volunteer.

DeHority, who is a past president of the Cambrian Park Kiwanis Club, and Jennifer and Sergio Chaves, who also are Kiwanians living in Alameda, are certified child passenger safety technicians. They joined about 12 child safety passenger technicians from the San Jose Police Department to keep the cars moving through as quickly as possible. Technicians must take a 40-hour class and pass a rigorous test in order to become certified. Amarjeet Rai, a member of the SJPD Community Services Division was in charge of the event.

Other volunteers included about 15 members of the Cambrian Park Kiwanis Club. They joined about 10 members of the San Jose Police Department and five Parks and Recreation employees. District 9 Councilmember Judy Chirco and Vice Mayor Pat Dando also came out to help and passed out vouchers to people who are unable to afford car and booster seats. The vouchers are part of a financial grant, which is underwritten by the Silicon Valley Auto Dealers Network, providing car and booster seats.

Parents also were given materials about car and booster seats, and some of the police officers helped fingerprint and get DNA samples from the children. About 45 children were fingerprinted. Santa Claus also arrived and at times kept the youngsters busy while their parents learned about car seat safety. In addition, mounted police officers Sergeant Greg Trapp, who lives in Almaden, and Officer Roberto Plamenco from Santa Teresa bought Shadow and Beau to the event, happily posing for photos with kids

Obviously, the Child Safety Day was a complete success. One parent brought a teddy bear instead of a child, because “my child is due any day. I just wanted to make sure that everything was perfect for our first ride home from the hospital,” said Sandeep Mukherjee from Santa Clara.