By Pam Hoogerwerf, Program Manager, Injury Prevention and Community Outreach Iowa Health Care, Stead Family Children’s Hospital

For more than a century, Grinnell Mutual has worked to provide peace of mind for our customers and their local communities. An ongoing commitment to safety education in the rural Midwest led Grinnell Mutual to collaborate with the Stead Family Children’s Hospital (SFCH) University of Iowa Health Care (UIHC) injury prevention program team. Noted experts in their field, SFCH staff members bring practical education and experience into classrooms and communities in efforts to reduce or prevent a variety of injuries common to our agricultural roots.  

All-terrain vehicle (ATV) and utility task vehicle (UTV) incidents are one of the leading causes of injuries and fatalities among youth in agricultural communities. Side-by-side vehicles are out-selling all-terrain vehicles in recent years.

Pam Hoogerwerf, Program Manager for Injury Prevention and Community Outreach says, “data shows that over 72 percent of the 45,000 Iowa students who have heard our school-based education program have ridden on or have driven at least one of these types of vehicles.

“Grinnell Mutual has been a generous donor and partner in getting the message out to Iowa families on the importance of safety and following practical tips when riding.”

One of the program’s concerns is that various safety guidelines for youth are inconsistent and may not align with state or local laws. This is very much a concern of the program when riding these machines on roadways. Already this year in Iowa, there have been 11 deaths and many more significant injuries requiring long-term hospitalizations. Most deaths related to ATVs and UTVs occur on public roads, the majority of which are single-vehicle crashes.

Although manufacturers state the vehicles are not designed for public roads and warn against this use, municipalities, counties, and states across the country are passing legislation allowing increased use on public roadways. A patient and his family tell their story with one of our physician experts adding important safety information.

Watch Brandt's ATV story.

The lawn mower safety program is another crucial prevention and awareness effort run by the Children’s Hospital and supported by Grinnell Mutual. Studies show that riding lawn mowers are the most frequent cause of major limb amputation in young children in the U.S. In the majority of these accidents, the child is a bystander. SFCH staff and researchers provide crucial lawn mower safety tips to help keep children and families safe from these types of tragedies. 

“Our program led a national study of both public and private lawn mower injury support and prevention groups,” says Hoogerwerf. “Major themes identified that contributed to an injury event included: lack of supervision (40 percent), a child not perceiving danger (40 percent), a child allowed to be in vicinity of mower (23 percent), mowing in reverse (51 percent), and other mower-related issues (15 percent).” 

Many times, when a family experiences a traumatic unintentional injury to a child, one of their methods of healing is to help with advocacy and outreach. The Manahl’s impactful story of their own lawn mower accident paints the picture for caution and education for other families with children.  SFCH staff and researchers provide crucial lawn mower safety tips to keep children and families safe from tragedy. Watch Tate's Lawn Mower story.

Unintentional injury is the leading cause of death and disability among people from birth to 40 years of age. The injury prevention program at Stead Family Children’s Hospital University of Iowa Health Care tracks how children are injured or die from these events and develops programming based on academic research with a goal to decrease these injuries and deaths, specifically among children.

“With safety education at the heart of our mission, our trained educators provide one-on-one instruction, demonstrations, and information related to safety topics,” states Hoogerwerf. “Our aim is to reduce injuries through education and prevention. In addition to the ATV/UTV and lawn mower programs, we have safety programs on child passenger safety, safe sleep for infants, bike safety, water safety, and firearm injury prevention.”