Hasbro Children’s Hospital Grant Will Provide Home Safety Equipment for At-Risk Families

Posted Tuesday, July 24, 2012

The Injury Prevention Center at Hasbro Children’s Hospital has purchased stairway safety gates for families in its early intervention program through a $750 grant from Toys R’ Us. The Injury Free Coalition for Kids and the Toys R’ Us Children’s Fund partnered to provide grants to Injury Free sites such as Hasbro Children's Hospital, the Rhode Island site of Injury Free Coalition for Kids.

The early intervention program is part of the Hasbro Children's Hospital Children’s Neurodevelopment Center (CNDC). The CNDC provides evaluation and treatment of children with neurological, genetic, developmental, metabolic and behavioral disorders. Its early intervention program targets children from birth to three years old. This population of children has particularly high needs for childproofing and safety equipment in the home. Team members from the early intervention program perform in-home safety assessments for families in order to determine what safety items may benefit them.

For one family, the Patenaudes of West Warwick, the addition of the gate will help with their three young children, two of whom have autism, says Rachel Sullivan, ACSW, a social worker in the CNDC’s early prevention program, who recently performed a home safety assessment for the family.

“Tim and Amanda Patenaude have two children, a 2-year-old and 6-year-old, both of whom have been diagnosed with autism. They also have a 1-year-old foster child. These kids are especially at risk for common dangers in the home,” says Sullivan. “This grant has allowed us to provide the Patenaude family with a stairway swing gate, which will help keep their three children safe.”

For more information about injury prevention click here.