Car Seat Program
The Perry County Health Department, the local distribution site for the Ohio Buckles Buckeyes Child Safety Seat Program employs one Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician to oversee the program, assist with child safety seat questions and to check your child’s safety seat installation. Checking of seats is by appointment only. Please call (740) 342-5179 to talk to the Carole Merckle.
The Ohio Buckles Buckeyes program is made possible through the purchase of child safety seats by the Ohio Department of Health. The safety seats are intended primarily for distribution to eligible low-income families whose child has outgrown their infant-only car seat.
A parent or guardian is eligible to receive a child restraint system-convertible, combination, or booster seat if they are a WIC client or meet current WIC Income Guidelines. For the convertible seat, the child must have outgrown the weight and height limits of their current infant-only seat, but should be under 40 pounds and less than 3 years old.
To receive a combination seat, the child’s shoulders must be above the top harness slots of the convertible restraint but are under 40 pounds or the child is over 22 pounds, under 40 pounds, and over 3 years of age.
To receive a high back belt positioning booster seat, the child must be over 30 pounds; over 3 years of age, and the child’s shoulders are higher than the top slots on the combination child restraint.
The parent or guardian must attend an educational session on proper use and installation of the child safety seat, also. For more information please contact Carole Merckle at 740 342-5179 or click here to email Carole cmerckle@odh.ohio.gov
Call the Perry County Health Department at 740 342-5179 to see if you qualify for this state funded program.
An approximate four out of five car seats are not used correctly. Don’t let your child’s be one of them! We can help you install your car seat correctly in your vehicle. Call ahead for an appointment and make sure to bring your vehicles owner’s manual and your car seat manufacturer’s guide!
To find out if your car seat has been recalled, please visit the Child Safety Seat Recalls Web Page on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Web Site at www.nhtsa.dot.gov
What are the five most common mistakes parents or caregivers make when installing a car seat?
The danger: In a collision, a child in a loose seat could crash into the back of the front seat and seriously inure their face or head.
Fast Fix: Place your knee in the seat, and put all your weight into it (use your arm for an infant seat), tightening the seat belt as much as possible. Then lock the seat belt, a step that many parents miss. If you have a pre-1996 car, it may not have adequate belt-locking capabilities.
You need to use a locking clip. Most safety seats come with one. Don’t forget to engage your car’s seat belt lock. Shoulder-belt locks work differently than lap belt locks, so check you car manual for instructions.
The Danger: the bones that protect an infant’s spinal cord are still forming. When a child is rear facing, his/her back (the strongest part of their body) can better absorb the immense forces of a crash. Facing forward, an infant’s relatively heavy head can catapult forward. This may cause his/her underdeveloped spine to expose the spinal cord, putting him/her at risk of paralysis or death.
Fast Fix: Follow the rules. Keep you baby rear facing until at least one year of age and at least 20 pounds. Go the “extra mile” and keep your child rear facing until he/she reaches the upper weight limit of the safety seat and is at least one year of age.
Test your seat: If, after you’ve tightened your child into his/her car seat, you can still pinch the fabric of the harness straps between your fingers the harness is too loose.
The danger: A child who has a loose harness can easily come out of the safety seat in a crash, the child could then be severely injured if they hit part of the car’s interior or another passenger. The worse case scenario, the child could be ejected from the vehicle. When the retainer clip is in the wrong position, the straps can easily slip off the child’s shoulder and put the child at risk of being ejected from the seat during an accident.
Fast Fix: Tighten the harness. Keep in mind that the straps should be snug and have no slack. Parents often move the retainer clip as they maneuver their child out of the seat. Check the clip’s position every time you buckle up.
The danger: when the child faces forward, a harness in the lower slots can break through the seat during a collision.
Fast Fix: always check the instructions that came with your seat to find out which slots are for which direction. If in doubt, call the manufacturer of the child safety seat. (The 1-800 # should be on the side of your child’s seat).
** Take the 5-step test:
The danger: an adult seat belt used by itself does not properly restrain a child because it crosses the body at the wrong position (high on the belly, high across the shoulder, and sometimes even across the neck). Children often move the shoulder belt behind them because it’s uncomfortable. In a crash, a child who is too small for an adult seat belt can sustain massive internal-organ damage, head and spinal injuries, or even be ejected.
Fast Fix: go out and buy your child a booster seat today or call to see if you qualify for a booster seat through the Ohio Buckles Buckeyes Program.
Perry County Health Department
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