Safe Kids Upstate To Hold Free Car Seat Checks Wednesday

Safe Kids Upstate will hold free car seat checks Wednesday, July 19 at the Easley Fire Department's Station #2, located at 180 Glenwood Road.

According to Kathy Harper, Special Project Coordinator for Kohl's On the Way program, Safe Kids Upstate holds car seat checks at six rotating locations the third Wednesday of each month.

In addition to the Easley fire station, checks are held at the Seneca Fire Department (321 W. South 4^th Street, Seneca, type “Seneca Fire Department” when searching for directions online), Breakaway/Bradshaw Automotive (330 Woodruff Road, closest to Laurens Road in Greenville), Parker Fire Department Station #3 (700 State Park Road, close to the Olive Garden at Cherrydale in Greenville), Medshore Ambulance in Greenville (1 Medshore Way, across from Greenville Memorial Hospital) and the Greer Fire Department. (103 W. Poinsett Street in Greer)

“These locations have all been strong partners of Safe Kids Upstate,” Harper said.

Appointments for the car seat checks can be made by visiting SafeKidsUpstate.org, then selecting on Programs. Select “On the Way” in the drop-down menu, then click “Make Your Appointment Online,” the second bullet point in the article onscreen.

The online registration form will appear and you'll see the next available appointment.

During inspection days, appointments are generally held from 10am – 5:15pm, with a break for lunch.

“This is a gift to the community,” Moody said. “This is a free service to the community.”

During the inspection, the car seat will be checked in a number of ways, Harper said.

“We're looking at how the seat is installed to make sure it's a safe installation,” Harper said. “We look at the seat itself, make sure it's a safe seat. We have the recall list that we consult to see if that particular model has been recalled. We check the seat for any obvious damage.”

In addition, Safe Kids officials talk to parents about traveling safely.

“We talk about traveling in the car with other family members,” Harper said. “We talk about projectiles – cell phones, purses, gym bags, water bottles, diaper bags, CDs, anything that can fly around your car.

“Take a minute to think of the interior of your car,” Harper said. “If you were sitting at a dead stop and another car hit you, what could fly around you? And that could be unrestrained passengers in the car. Weight times speed equals force.

“We talk about never leaving your child alone in a car, never letting your child play in or around cars,” Harper said.

Battery safety is also discussed during the inspections.

“People don't realize that all the little remotes that we have, especially on key fobs, can become dislodged and children can swallow them,” Harper said. “We try to answer any questions that parents may have. We may not have the answer but we'll try to find it for them.”

Safe Kids Upstate asks that residents make one appointment per child or car seat.

Do you have a baby on the way?

“If the baby is not here yet, we do check car seats before the baby arrives,” Harper said. “We do encourage the prenatal inspections.”

Just put “UK” in the fields for Name, Height and Weight when registering for your appointment online for unborn children. 

Harper asks that those signing up for the inspection in Easley be mindful that the station is “an active, working fire department.”

“Sometimes these guys have to leave in the middle to go fight a fire,” she said.

She said Easley Fire Chief Butch Womack has been “an unbelievably strong partner” to the program.

“All of our location partners are people who give us space and time free of charge,” Moody said. “It's a gift to the community from them as well.”

The program is also a gift to communities from Kohl's, which funds the “On the Way” program through its “Kohl's Cares” program.

Money received from the purchase of special books and stuffed animals at the front of Kohl's stores goes to fund the Kohl's Cares program.

The funding from Kohl’s Cares Programs helps to fund the many programs of Kohl’s On the Way program in the Upstate.  This funding is generated by the store in the Upstate of South Carolina including the local Easley Store. 

“It's designed to reach underserved populations,” Harper said.

Spanish language appointments are available, but must be made in advance by calling Lillian Garcia at 864-454-1187.

You also make an appointment for the third Wednesday by calling Harper at 454-1108. Please leave her a message with your phone number.