On July 19, 2012, Better Indy Babies/Healthy Families held a car seat clinic at the Barrington Health & Dental Center (BHC) to distribute much needed infant car seats to some of our Burmese families. Over the past couple years, BHC has seen an influx of Burmese patients and we are grateful to have Swhe Bualteng on staff to help as an interpreter and translator for this growing population.
The car seat clinic took place in the circle drive-up, where two of our BIBs staff, who are certified Child Passenger Safety Technicians, helped families learn how to properly install the infant car seat. Because of the language barrier, many Burmese families have a difficult time finding resources, especially when it comes to securing the proper safety restraints for their children.
Also because of the language barrier, the clinics were held by group sessions, so Swhe could translate the instructions to several families at one time. In the first session, we were able to educate, instruct, and give away 12 infant car seats to needy families. And, four seats were given out during the second session.
We even had a family stop by on their way into the health center and ask how they could go about receiving a car seat for their newborn because they did not have the money to purchase one. The staff was able to educate the family on the proper installation and gave them a car seat to take home.
Watching the delight on the families’ faces as they received a much needed resource…and….knowing that their soon-to-be newborn would be properly restrained was priceless!!
These infant car seats were made possible by a grant from the Criminal Justice Institute.
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