Bilingual firefighters from Hollister Fire Station No. 1 teamed up with First 5 San Benito on Dec. 4 to bring some basic home safety training to young students and their parents at Calaveras Elementary School.
Afelia Toledo-Prieto, family wellness parent educator for First 5 San Benito, said she meets with families on a monthly basis to present them with information on various topics.
“Injury prevention was the one for December,” she said. “I asked if CPR would be one of the things that interested them. They said they would be, so I contacted the fire department and asked if they could share some things on fire safety and risk prevention.”
Toldedo-Prieto said she wanted to include CPR, but understood that it would take up to six hours and could not be demonstrated during the normal hour-and-a-half session. The fire department, however, agreed to conduct a basic CPR demonstration, which it refers to as “bystander” or “good-Samaritan” CPR that can be done by an individual or as a team of two.
Division Chief Leo Alvarez said Capt. Josh Buzzetta and Acting Battalion Chief Sean Olguin, as well as firefighter Jesus Zepeda, gave the presentation to about 10 people. Along with giving information on how to give CPR , the firefighters covered fire evacuation plans, smoke detectors and carbon monoxide warning devices.
“We took the manikins we use here (at the fire station) and did demonstrations for the group,” he said. “We did it in Spanish and I was one of the translators. I originally went there to coach the guys. We had different levels of fluency and I helped out when there was a need to finish up on a topic. We were there for about 45 minutes. Originally, they gave us a half hour, but they allowed us to continue so we could get a good clear explanation.”
Alvarez said the team had quite a bit of information to share and, being that this was their first demonstration as part of the First 5 program, they wanted to determine the group’s comfort level in receiving the it.
“That’s when I decided to help and encouraged them to ask questions,” he said. “The school is open to doing it again and we asked those present to pass the word to their friends and neighbors and come the next time we have one.”
“The firemen were great,” Toledo-Prieto said. “They were awesome in sharing their wealth of knowledge on fire safety. The families really liked it and had a lot of questions.”
Lisa Faulkner, executive director of First 5, said the organization was the result of the passing of the 1998 Proposition 10 to tax tobacco products. San Benito County’s share of those revenues is approximately $497,000. She said the organization also applied for grants, upping the total revenues to $750,000 annually.
“San Benito County is participating in the First 5 Children and Families Commission,” she said. “We receive funding from the state for programming for zero to five-year-olds.”
The stated mission of First 5 is to engage in collaborative and county-wide planning and quality assurance efforts to provide children—prenatal to five years of age—with a comprehensive, integrated system of early childhood development services. The goal is to prepare children to enter school in good health, emotionally well developed and ready and able to learn.
“We support programs around parent investment, and that’s where our injury prevention programs comes in,” Faulkner said. “We’re partnering with public health to provide injury prevention and safety messaging. We have 10 partnering sites, most of them are at the schools. We also have story time at the San Benito County Library and in San Juan.”
Toledo-Prieto said anyone interested in attending any of the First 5 sessions can contact her at 831-634-4936 or parented@first 5sb.org.