Niagara Region Children’s Safety Village to Offer New Emergency Preparedness Program

Emergency Management Ontario, Niagara Regional Emergency Planning and the Canadian Red Cross have partnered to develop a new emergency preparedness program for children in the Niagara Region.

The pilot program will be delivered at the Niagara Region Children’s Safety Village – an education facility designed to teach children from Senior Kindergarten to Grade 6 about safety and injury prevention.

The new program will include both classroom instruction and hands-on learning to educate children about personal emergency preparedness (e.g. 72 hour kit, family emergency plan) and hazard awareness. Through this program, children will gain the confidence that they need to make themselves and their families safer and more comfortable during an emergency. Program announcements will commence in late August 2009.

At the Children’s Safety Village, Police Officers, Firefighters and EMS Paramedics introduce children to a variety of safety topics, including:

• Safety escape planning
• Traffic safety
• Bicycle safety
• Internet safety, and
• Basic first aid.

Classes are provided in both English and French to all four school boards in the Niagara Region. Last year, over 5000 students visited the Safety Village.

For more information on the Niagara Children’s Safety Village, please click here.