LIHU‘E — Certified Child Protective Seat Technician and instructor Stephanie Capllonch of the Castle Medical Center said car seat inspections are about keeping the child safe during the community free child car seat inspection held at the Vidinha Stadium parking lot on Saturday.
“This is not about right, or wrong,” Capllonch said. “You don’t know how many seat installations we’ve seen that are too loose, or improperly installed. Properly installed child car seats help keep keiki safe. We all want keiki to be safe when they’re on the road.”
In addition to checking for proper installation, car seat inspectors also check on the status of recalls for the seat being inspected, and answer questions about the car seat from its owners.
Capllonch, Katie Barbieto, and Lisa Dau, the Kapiolani Medical Center injury prevention coordinator, were on Kaua‘i on Saturday to not only inspect child car seats, but to certify nine Kaua‘i Police Department officers in child car seat inspections.
This is the instructor team’s second trip to Kaua‘i since last year when they were here to inspect child car seats after Kaua‘i had no certified inspectors because the certifications expired during the pandemic, and there were no renewals.
In the announcement for the October 2022 inspections, Wilcox Medical Center cited sources stating car crashes are the leading cause of death for children ages 1 through 12 in the United States, and the best way to protect keiki is to put them in the right car seat for their age and size, and use it the correct way every time.
The instructor team returned in January to certify 10 individuals through an effort spearheaded by Dwvindra Sharma of the Family Health Services Program at the Kaua‘i District Health Office, Department of Health.
During the summer of 2022, Hawai‘i updated requirements for keiki summer seats. Do you know if your keiki is in the right car seat?
Additionally, despite having the 10 new certifications, there are no regularly-scheduled car seat inspections, or a location where families can visit to have a child car seat inspected. The Kaua‘i Police Department certifications is only the second group to earn certification following the pandemic.”
Traffic was steady through the inspection site that capitalized on the Kaua‘i Police Activities League hosting its weekly flag football program. More than 25 cars had provided the average 25-minute check and questions answered treatment in the first two hours of its four-hour scheduled inspection time.
“This is all about keeping keiki safe,” Capllonch said.
