| Harlem Hospital Pediatric Resource Center
New York City, NY
Narrator: The
spirit of cooperation needed to promote better health and safety in
a community is clearly demonstrated by the Harlem Hospital Pediatric
Resource Center in New York City.
Danielle
Laraque, MD (Pediatrician): I think probably, in whatever
setting we’re in, it’s really in terms of attitudes. Every
child who walks into my office has the world available to them, and
that’s
as it should be.
Narrator: Danielle
Laraque is a pediatrician at Harlem Hospital Center.
Dr.
Laraque: We use every visit as an opportunity to talk about
health. So it really
is a full relationship and knowledge that they can come
here for many different services. And we work extensively with
the schools. We have a school health program. We have an injury prevention
program
that
we’ve extended into the community, into the schools.
Narrator: Aissatou
Bey-Grecia is Director of the Harlem Hospital Injury Prevention Program.
Aissatou
Bey-Grecia: What we do is look at traumatic injury to
children in central Harlem. We take a look at the statistics
and we try to
do something about it.
Dr.
Laraque: And one of the things that we did is to look outside
the hospital walls to the community. And
one of the things
that we saw
was that our
playgrounds were in terrible shape. Now, we’re physicians,
so we were not in a position to renovate those playgrounds,
but we were in a
position to collaborate with others around the city, and
that’s
what we did. And we’ve refurbished over twenty playgrounds.
Narrator: Research
also shows that most traumatic injuries in major cities in the United
States are pedestrian related
motor
vehicle
incidents.
Dr.
Laraque: So we teamed up with the Department of Transportation
and the schools to begin to do anticipatory guidance
about injury prevention.
Narrator: Safety City was born.
Ron
Whittaker is Director for the Safety City Five-Borough program.
Ron
Whittaker: Safety City is a program designed to do traffic safety
training. We provide comprehensive
traffic
safety
training for third
grade children
that will last and prevent injuries throughout
their lives. It's hands-on training, both indoors and outdoors
- in
a simulated street environment
outdoors, and in a training room that is created
in a traffic safety idea and theme inside.
Narrator: In the three years following Safety City’s inception, motor
vehicle related injuries to central Harlem children
were cut in half.
Aissatou
Bey-Grecia: The community knows what it needs and the support of the
hospital can only
make those
needs enhanced
and
better for
our kids.
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