The car seat safety fundraiser was organized by College of Medicine students in the Pediatric Interest Group. Resident Cecilia Mendiondo consoles Richard T. Blaszak, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics after he was dunked. Mendiondo, left, and Shelly Hamrick, right, pose with Betsey Mowery after winning the car seat knowledge test given to residents.

Oct. 29, 2008 | Parents, children and medical students sunk putts on the greens and doctors in the dunking booth during a golf benefit that raised more than $6,000 for the Safe From the Start program.

In its third year, the benefit for the car seat safety education program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) moved from the links to the miniature golf course Oct. 18 at Gator Golf in Little Rock. Unlimited miniature golf and additional games, including a popular dunking booth, were provided. The afternoon was reserved for a tournament for medical students and staff.

“The event was a huge success and we couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day,” said Amy Dossey, president of the UAMS College of Medicine Pediatric Interest Group, which sponsored the tournament. “Everyone was enthusiastic and we were able to raise quite a bit of money for such a valuable program.”

Proceeds from the event will benefit Safe from the Start, a child passenger safety education program that serves the families of infants born at UAMS. The UAMS Medical Center Auxiliary and others have provided support and resources to the program.

Over the past three years, the golf outings have raised more than $26,000 for the program and led to increased education, seat availability and expansion into the prenatal period. As a result of the program, more than 300 UAMS employees have become certified technicians who teach parents how to select and use an appropriate seat, helping more than 2,200 families.

Safe from the Start, a partnership between the UAMS Departments of Nursing and Neonatology, teaches new parents how to select and use child safety seats. New parents can view a car seat video in English or Spanish in their hospital room, receive basic child safety seat instruction from trained staff, or have a certified child passenger safety technician teach them how to install the car seat in their vehicle.

Parents who do not have a child safety seat can purchase one at reduced cost through the program; loaner car beds also are available for medically fragile infants.

When correctly installed, child safety seats are 71 percent effective in reducing death for infants involved in a vehicular crash. Low-birth-weight infants are at a particularly high risk for injury; UAMS houses the largest high-risk obstetric program in the state.

With more than 200 members, the UAMS College of Medicine’s Pediatric Interest Group consists of students pursuing a career in pediatric medicine. The group is active in various charitable and educational programs and offers a mentoring program between physicians and students.