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A group of young teens recently walked out of the Schliemann Center for Women’s Health with something most of their classmates do not have: the training to keep a child alive in an emergency.
They were the latest graduates of the center’s May Safe Sitter class, the babysitting and safety course it offers each year. Over the session, the students practiced caring for children of all ages, clearing a choking child’s airway and performing CPR, all under the eye of their instructor, Mrs. Kimberly.
“We are so proud of each student for their hard work and dedication,” the center said in announcing the class.
The curriculum reaches well beyond diapers and bedtimes. Safe Sitter is built around four areas: safety skills, child care skills, first aid and rescue skills, and what the program calls life and business skills. Students rehearse on soft-bodied dolls and medical manikins, work through role-playing exercises, and learn how to screen jobs, set a fair wage and handle employers.
The lessons trace back to a single loss. Safe Sitter was founded in 1980 by Dr. Patricia A. Keener, an Indianapolis pediatrician, after a colleague’s 18-month-old child choked to death in the care of an adult sitter who did not know what to do.
Dr. Keener taught the first class in an Indianapolis middle school. The program is now a national nonprofit taught in all 50 states through a network of more than 3,000 instructors, with a curriculum that is reviewed and updated regularly to keep it medically accurate.
At the Schliemann Center, part of Baxter Health, the course is open to students in the sixth grade and older. Registration and upcoming class dates are available through the center at 870-508-2345.
