Franklin Co Health Department to Receive Child Car Seats Through Mini Grant

The Franklin County Health Department has been awarded the 2023 Car Seat Mini-Grant by the Georgia Department of Public Health, Injury Prevention Program.

Through the Mini-Grant, the Franklin County Health Department and Lavonia Health and Safety will work together to provide car seats and education to financially eligible families in Franklin County.

The program is funded by the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety to help ensure Georgia’s children are safe while riding in motor vehicles.

Pat Rape with Lavonia Health and Safety is the coordinator of the grant for the Franklin County Health Department and will teach classes on how to properly install the car seats.

“It’s our responsibility to keep our children safe,” said Pat Rape. “The Car Seat Mini-Grant is a great opportunity to help our community and help protect our children from serious injuries or death in motor vehicle crashes.”

She said all parents, especially first-time parents are welcome to attend and could benefit from attending the 45-minute class.

In the class, Rape will use a PowerPoint presentation to talk about car passenger safety and the Georgia seatbelt laws, as well as about “Best Practices” vs the basic requirements of the law.  Under Georgia law, all children should be seated safely in the car.

Rape tells WLHR News the state will send up to eight car seats per month or as needed to distribute to low-income families.

To qualify for the free seats children need to be on Peachcare, Medicaid, or SNIP.

For more information about the Franklin County car seat program, contact Pat Rape at (706) 356-1814 or https://lavoniahealthandsafety.weebly.com/.

Since 2007, the education, car seats and booster seats provided through the Mini-Grant prevented serious injury or death and saved over 425 of Georgia’s children who were involved in crashes.