LIHU‘E — There was no shortage of cars for the new trainees for the car seat certification class to work on Saturday during the free car seat inspections offered at the Walmart store.
Despite the overnight rains, wind and cold, motorists started parking in the designated areas while the 10 students in the car seat certification class were briefed by the instructors from Hawai‘i Pacific Health.
“These people are certified,” said Katie Bartieto of Queen’s Medical Center, one of the three instructructors. “They all passed. We made sure of that in the classroom.”
The students were being briefed on filling out the questionnaire that goes with each inspection by Lisa Dau, the Kapi‘olani Medical Center injury prevention coordinator.
Motorists were treated to a free, thorough inspection that included everything from basic installation to details of the seat construction under the eye of the instructor team that arrived here Wednesday to start the certification process for the 10 students.
And the line of cars continued to stream into the parking lot.
“This is important,” said Bartieto. “People might think that it’s OK, but from child to child, laws change, and there are things that change that they are not aware of.”
The certified car seat technicians keep track of the changes, and each inspection is handled with the latest changes in laws as well as changes from the manufacturers of individual car seats.
An example would be a car seat someone may have gotten at a garage sale. How long has it been in storage?
Devindra Sharma of the state Department of Health Kaua‘i District Health Office, wants to make it so people who buy car seats do so with the recommendation they have the seat inspected by the certified technicians.
The team heads to Maui for more training this week.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
