Kidsafe Taranaki Trust Safety Gate Scheme

28 June 2012

In 2011 Kidsafe Taranaki Trust launched the new safety gate scheme in Waitara, where 40 child safety gates (valued at over $100.00) are available to low income families with children under five years old, and is now available to New Plymouth families.

A limited number of safety gates are now available for free loan to eligible New Plymouth families from New Plymouth Plunket Car Seats. Families must have children under the age of five years old and hold a current community services card.

Interested families can phone Plunket Car Seats to register their interest in a safety gate and book an appointment. A bond of twenty dollars is required and the gate is available on temporary loan to them for one year.

Funding for this scheme for Taranaki was provided by TSB Community Trust. The Sunshine Trust provided funding ten safety gates for Waitara in recognition of their former member and Kidsafe Taranaki Trust founder and leader, the late Dr Alan Parsons.

Kidsafe Taranaki Trust is a charitable trust formed in 1994 by a range of individuals and agencies with the common goal of reducing the incidence and severity of unintentional injuries to children/tamariki in Taranaki.

Trust membership currently includes Taranaki District Health Board, ACC, Plunket, Tui Ora and community volunteers. Kidsafe is also a partner in the New Plymouth injury Safe (NPiS) Trust which is responsible for New Plymouth District’s International Safe Community accreditation programme.

Kidsafe analyses local child injury data to inform the planning of local collaborative injury prevention community projects on priority injury issues as well as ensuring a coordinated approach to local child injury prevention initiatives.

Kidsafe has identified that unintentional falls injuries are the leading cause of hospitalisations for children under five in Taranaki. Kidsafe has been running child falls prevention projects over the last decade and these numbers are beginning to decrease.

Active supervision of children and providing a safe home environment using safety devices are key strategies for preventing child falls injuries.

By the end of the year it is anticipated that a total of 130 safety gates will be available throughout the region.

This project is a good example of collaborative Kidsafe activities. It has been achieved through a successful partnership between Kidsafe members Taranaki Plunket and the TDHB Public Health Unit injury prevention health promotion programme, with funding from TSB Community Trust.

For more information please call
Sue Carrington
Media Adviser
Ph 021 367 789

Last updated: Thursday, June 28, 2012