Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital is offering virtual car seat checks to help parents anywhere in the Intermountain West learn to properly install and use car seats to protect their babies.

Jade Elliott spoke with Jessica Strong, Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital, and Michelle Jamison, Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital, to learn about the virtual car seat checks.

“Proper installation and use of car seats are critical to keeping children safe, but many new parents and caretakers have questions about whether they’re doing it correctly,” said Jessica Strong, community health manager at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital.

“Primary Children’s child passenger safety technicians have offered free car seat checks at Intermountain hospitals and community events for decades. We’re thrilled to continue those face-to-face encounters, and offer virtual options to bring critical safety information to parents and caretakers.”

Virtual car seat checks were piloted in 2020, when pandemic restrictions prohibited many face-to-face child safety events, Strong said. Primary Children’s opened the virtual options earlier this year, and plans to continue them to meet demand.

Here are some important things to remember about infant car seats:

• Always place the infant car seat rear-facing in the back seat of a vehicle.
  
•  Make sure your car seat fits properly in your vehicle. Check the vehicle owner’s manual and the safety seat instructions for proper placement procedures.
  
•  Send in the safety seat registration card to stay informed about updates or recalls.
  
•  Destroy a child safety seat if it has been involved in a crash, even if it still looks like it is in good condition. Damage that affects a seat’s ability to withstand another accident is not always visible.
  
•  Avoid secondhand and expired safety seats.
  

Here are the steps to set up a virtual car seat check, and what to expect:

• Call 801-662-6583 to schedule an appointment.
  
•  You’ll need a portable device with a camera, such as a phone, tablet, or laptop.
  
• Primary Children’s will send an email containing information about what to have on hand at your appointment.
  
•  A text or email will be sent before the appointment with a link to the virtual meeting room.
  
•  A certified car seat technician will demonstrate proper techniques with a car seat, then observe and guide the parent or caretaker install and use the device.
  

More information can be found at www.primarychildrens.org/safety.

The Baby Your Baby program provides many resources for all pregnant women and new moms in Utah. There is also expert advice from the Utah Department of Health and Intermountain Healthcare that air each week on KUTV 2News.