Day Camp To
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Farming Staff
VILLAGE OF OREGON (Lan
caster Co.) The statistics are
grim: two children in Lancaster
County in the past decade have
been killed because of silo gas.
Many more are injured.
Of 8,000 children that die per
year from entirely preventable,
avoidable injuries in the country.
300 of them are farm kids.
There are more children that die
of injury than of all diseases com
bined, according to farm safety
experts.
What’s to be done?
The local chapter of the Farm
Safely 4 Just Kids, together with
the Safe Kids Coalition, are pre
senting a special Farm Safety Day
Camp for farm children ages 8-13
on Saturday, June 3, at the Oregon
Dairy Farm on Oregon Pike.
The day camp, according to
sponsors, is open to farm children
to promote education of farm safe
y* gi po».
sored..a booth that provided information and handouts
about farm safety. These era some of the items that will be
provided free at the day camp.
Profit
from winter
lime application
ty. Beginning at 8 a.m„ children
will view safety demonstrations
that show the hazards of tractors,
grain flow wagons. PTOs, skid
loaders, all-terrain vehicles, mow
ers. and electrical systems. Also,
special stations will show children
the dangers of animal handling,
farm chemicals, hidden hazards,
and other equipment Also, special
courses will help children under
stand the importance of learning
about fire prevention, first aid, and
roadway/buggy safety.
The day-long Farm Safety Day
Camp will provide lots of free food
for breakfast and lunch. Ice cream
snacks will be provided. Also, con
tests will be held throughout the
day to demonstrate safety
awareness.
For Plain farm children, bus
transportation from churches will
be provided.
Organ Dairy Farm is providing
free use of their farm for the day
camp and will provide the food for
Teach Kids Farm Safety
the children. Also, donations have
been accepted from Cargill Grain,
U.S. Health Care, and local physi
cians and other organizations to
hold the event.
Organizers of the day camp say
they need donations to make the
day camp a success.
People often refer to situations
where a child gets hurt on a farm as
an “accident." But these'are not
acts of fate, according to Dr. Albert
C. Price, Roseville Pediatrics,
senior adviser to the Safe Kids
Coalition and Farm Safety 4 Just
Kids.
“They are avoidable injuries,"
he said. “The children are not
being supervised. They’re on
equipment they shouldn’t be on.
They’re doing jobs that are beyond
their physical or mental
capability."
Recently, Price, who is helping
to coordinate the day camp, said he
participated in a court case involv
ing a nine year old child that was
being “allowed and trained to
drive a combine.
“Maybe that’s not what that
child should be doing.” he said.
Often, parents believe that if they
had to drive a combine when they
were 10 years old, then their kids
should too which can easily
prove disastrous.
Price is excited about the day
camp and how it may help reduce
preventable injuries and death of
children on the farm. He men
tioned the implementation of rules
for medicine, including childproof
seals for containers, a move which
helped reduce injuries and death.
When you make the kids wear
bike helmets, injuries drop signif
icantly, said Price. “There are
many things that you can use for
statistics that show that good, pre
ventive education does
something.”
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Dr. Albeit C. Price, Roseville Pediatrics, senior adviser to
the Safe Kids Coalition and Farm Safety 4 Just Kids, Is help
ing to coordinate the Farm Safety Day Camp In June. Kids
can eat tor free, learn farm safety, and take home coloring
books and stickers about farm safety.
Price said that farming is diffe
rent from the work of the general
population, in that the fanner
depends on his children in the
work cycle. Unfortunately, said
Price, children sometimes don’t
belong in that work cycle. “They
ought to be in a different kind of
job."
In the past year, the Farm Safety
4 Just Kids organization has work
ed hard to bring the message about
safety to farm families. In July last
year, Shari Burgus, director of
program serves for the national
group, based in Earlham, lowa,
spate to the Lancaster County
, Coalition of Safe Kids at the Farm
and Home Center. At the Farm
Show, the two organizations spon
sored a booth that provided infor
mation and handouts about farm
safety.
The coalition, according to
Price, is the only organization on
the East Coast devoted to not only
the safety of children in the city,
but also the farm.
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 18, 199545
The day camp is modeled after
the first safety day camp in Cedar
Falls, lowa, in 1988.
Price recently asked a farm boy
about the dangers of a silo. "He
had no concept of what the prob
lems were," said Price. Because of
this ignorance, and lack of farm
community involvement, a lot of
kids have been injured as a result
of entirely preventable accidents.
“What we’re saying is, if you
don’t want us to legislate, like with
the bike helmets, then come up
with good education programs for
your children and decide what you
want to do with these projects.
We’ll help you.”
Eventually, Price hopes that
more “family” day camps can be
set up to teach kids not only farm
safety, but to teach parents such
things as first aid.
“Farmers do not want a lot of
legislation that’s understand
able, because they’ve paid the
price for a lot of legislation. But
we’re saying, all right, come and
help us. Work with us.”
To donate money to operate the
day camp, contact Price at Rose
ville Pediatrics, 160 North Pointe
Blvd., Lancaster, PA 17601, (717)
569-6481.
For registration forms, contact
Mitch Woeste, (800) 822-0769.
KEN CLUQSTON
(717) 665-6775
CRAFT-BILT
CONSTRUCTION INC.
FARM-HOME BUILDING
1242 Breneman Road
MANHEIM, PA 17545
PH: (717) 665-4372
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