O’Bleness promotes child identification as part of public safety program

The stickers include information about the child’s name, date of birth, address, parents, emergency contact, medical history and special needs. Simple instructions are provided on where to put the sticker so that emergency personnel at the scene of an accident can locate it.

The CHAD program was created after a car accident involving a 1-year-old boy in Illinois. The babysitter who was driving the car was killed. The child named Chad was rushed to a local hospital where medical care was delayed due to the inability to identify him. The boy survived his injuries. A new-found awareness for infant and child identification in the case of an emergency — CHAD – was created to address similar situations.

The Ohio District Governor of Kiwanis, John DeVilbiss, adopted the project of spreading CHAD awareness as a part of the Ohio District’s overall service program known as “Young Children: Priority One.” Its goal is to address the needs of children everywhere. The international foundation encourages clubs to create projects, like CHAD, to help children, families and communities.

Evelyn Houk, president of the Kiwanis Club of Downtown Athens, said she found a great response from people asking for more stickers. “They seemed really excited about it,” she said in the release.

Upon receiving 20 identification stickers, which were distributed in discharge packages for new mothers at O’Bleness, within hours the Downtown Kiwanis Club received an additional request for 400 more from the hospital.

Jackie Jeffers, unit manager of the O'Bleness Birth Center, expressed gratitude to the Downtown Kiwanis Club she for taking the initiative with the stickers. “This is something the community has needed for a long time,” Jeffers said in the release. “I’m so happy to be able to be a part of this.” She said she plans to continue the distribution of the stickers in the hospital’s Birth Center on a routine basis.

Houk explained their plan is to reach out with the CHAD stickers beyond the scope of the hospital to other areas of Athens where car-seat-aged children are located. The stickers were also made available at the annual Athens Bike Rodeo event that promotes bicycle safety for young children, as well as churches and schools.

For more information or to obtain CHAD stickers, call Houk at (740) 593-8668 or Julia Nehls at (740) 593-7354. According to Houk, “It is the hope of the Downtown Kiwanis that these stickers will help in providing lifesaving, important information about the child.”