Content:

Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute (KPTI)

The Children's Hospital in Denver is the only Level 1 pediatric trauma center between Chicago and Los Angeles.  This rating means that it provides the highest level of trauma care available.

There are many wonderful causes which deserve support, however, this program does something few others can. This is a program which can saves children's lives and helps them recover to live fully and productively. Kids from every community in the area benefit from this remarkable pediatric trauma system within the Rocky Mountain region.

As stated above, the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute is a program, not a hospital, and its headquarters just happens to be located in Denver, the heart of the Rocky Mountain District. KPTI serves every town in the Rocky Mountain region - Colorado, Wyoming and the Nebraska panhandle. 

KPTI is designed to improve quality pediatric care as close to home as possible by providing that portions of KPTI funds come back to communities in the form of:

• injury prevention programs
• training - such as pediatric emergency-care courses and seminars for pre-hospital personnel (EMT and paramedics), doctors, teachers, child care providers and community members at-large
• and from research into new methods of helping a critically injured child.

(Special thanks to Kiwanis Club of Loveland, CO for the providing bulk of this article.)

Pediatric Trauma Resources on the Web:

• Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institutes around the world - Yahoo! links
• Children's Hospital of Denver
• The National Pediatric Trauma Registry
• Colorado Trauma Program

Home Page

About Our Club

Upcoming Activities

Club Leadership

Club News

Click here if you have any great ideas to share with us!

Pike's Peak Division 4

THE SCARY TRUTH ABOUT EMERGENCY CARE

(excerpted from David Ruben, Parenting, December/January 1996, pages 101-104)

Parenting magazine in its December/January issue called it "the scary truth about emergency care." The article told about how the people and equipment that all of us rely on in times of crisis aren't always prepared to handle the emergencies that they face.

The reason, as it applies to children, is that kids aren't little adults. The equipment that will help to save the life of an adult frequently won't work on a child because it is too large. And emergency crews aren't necessarily prepared to deal with child trauma either, because the injuries that manifest themselves one way in an adult might take a different course in a child.

The result, according to Parenting, is that "the odds of a child receiving first-rate care during the crucial half hour following a major injury or at the onset of a serious illness amount to a crap shoot."

Not a pleasant thought for parents, grandparents, teachers and others entrusted with the care of children.

Ambulances need to be equipped with child-size cervical collars, breathing tubes, IV's and oxygen masks, according to Parenting. Emergency medical workers need training that deals specifically in the differences between adult and child victims of trauma. What are the symptoms of shock in children? What is an acceptable range for blood pressure in children?

Parenting recommends that parents talk to their pediatricians about the level of service available from local ambulance crews and emergency rooms. Parents also can ask ambulance personnel what training they have had in pediatric advanced life support and how they would respond to specific situations.

In conjunction with Children's Hospital, KPTI offers training opportunities and pediatric equipment to emergency service providers who need it.  In addition, KPTI provides child trauma prevention services that might include education about dangerous cribs, child abuse identification training, and community awareness of dangers in our midst.
(Return.)