Copyright © 2000 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

TAHLEQUAH, OK - House fires are a serious problem for all communities, but they affect American Indian and Alaska Native families and communities at a much higher rate than the rest of the nation.

Young children are at a high risk of injury and death due to house fires and burns. In fact, fires and burns are the leading cause of death for children ages 1-4.

To address this problem, the Indian Health Service (IHS), the U.S. Fire Administration and Head Start have teamed up to create the Sleep Safe Program, written in 1999, to address the fire/burn injury problem among young children.

"The Sleep Safe Program is giving our program a smoke detector for each family that we serve," said Lynn Davis, a Cherokee Nation Early Childhood Unit employee who is certified as a Sleep Safe coordinator leader. "Families will be informed by parent trainings on how to install the smoke detectors."

In the past, Head Start families did not want smoke detectors because they have experienced them going off due to false alarms from cooking.

"Because of these problems, the Sleep Safe Program provides photoelectric smoke detectors, which are less likely to be set off by cooking vapors", said Davis. "These detectors have 10-year, lithium batteries, which eliminates the need to change the battery every year."

Four other Cherokee Nation Early Childhood Unit employees (Randall Hicks, transportation/training specialist, and Kathy Webb, Helen Panther and Wanda Crittenden, all quality assurance specialists), attended the Sleep Safe program fire safety training in August and are now certified as Sleep Safe coordinators. They will be in charge of the smoke detectors placed in the family homes.

The coordinators will also periodically visit the home to make sure the detectors are working properly and hold trainings periodically to provide Head Start/Early Head Start teachers, teacher aides and individual service aides information on the smoke detectors and on the risks and safety hazards in the home.

The goal of the Sleep Safe Program is to reduce the threat of fire and burn injuries in American Indian and Alaska Native children ages 0-5 to half the current national average by 2010.

This goal will be achieved by:

Increasing the number of operable smoke detectors in homes of American Indian and Alaska Native children each year of implementing the Sleep Safe Program.

Providing fire safety curricula to Head Start programs to increase awareness among American Indian and Alaska Native families and among childcare providers of children ages 0-5.

Promoting the writing and passage of local tribal laws requiring fire safety codes in new and existing homes and Head Start centers.

The Sleep Safe Coordinators will provide parents and childcare providers with basic information on how to identify home fire safety hazards that pose the greatest risks to children, as well as how to eliminate these hazards.