I’ve long advocated on behalf of public education. But sometimes, I must admit, I grow discouraged. After all, tight budgets can make education a tough sell, and sometimes it feels like an impossible sell.
There are those people, though, who have the heart to keep on pushing with little regard to setbacks. Their passion just seems limitless, and it’s an inspiration to work with them. One such person is Mary Werderitch, executive director of the Illinois Fire Safety Alliance (IFSA). Werderitch and her board of directors are true advocates for public fire safety education.
An Alliance Formed
In 1982, a small group of fire chiefs in Illinois began an effort to require smoke alarms in every home. After achieving success, they decided to direct their energy toward a broader agenda–and the IFSA was born.
Although best known for its annual children’s burn survivor camp, the IFSA has spearheaded innovative public education efforts, including a public education kiosk that caught my eye on a recent trip to Illinois.
The kiosk concept arose from the IFSA’s burn survivor camp–they wanted to see fewer children get burned in the first place. So after examining local fire concerns, the group decided to create a series of educational videos about playing with matches or gasoline. Note: Their research indicated that nearly 85 percent of the victims of child-set fires are children themselves.
The videos are gripping tales of individuals and families who have been burned–sometimes severely. Not everyone thinks that “telling it like it is” produces measurable safety results. But the power of the real-life stories and the passion behind the group’s educational goal are undeniable.
Kiosk Specifics
Unfortunately, budgetary constraints often beset our more ambitious prevention efforts. Staff is often one of our biggest line items; so, with this in mind, the IFSA, together with an organization called Health World (www.healthworldoutreach.org), created a self-operated kiosk as the platform for their videos.
It’s the kind of kiosk you see in shopping malls or special events that allows users to self-guide an educational program. Set up in a secure location, the kiosk can operate without staff for extended periods. There may be more thorough ways to educate people, but eventually financial constraints must be faced, and the IFSA has done an exemplary job of doing what they can with what they have.
The kiosk controls are intuitive and the directions simple, so there’s no difficulty operating it. To engage the public, the IFSA constructed a dynamic educational display. Unlike the tabletops I’ve seen, this display provides choices for the participants and allows them to control the process, which, in turn, holds the user’s attention.
Users are offered one of four video options that tell burn-survivor and fire-prevention stories, allowing users to watch as much as they have time for. These gripping and tragic personal stories are coupled with messages of how to prevent similar occurrences.
The IFSA has made the kiosk available for check-out to 1,250 fire departments in Illinois, allowing them to feature it at local events. At the state fair alone, for example, the group estimates thousands of children and parents used the educational kiosk.
Conclusion
Time will tell what kind of results they achieve, but I think Mary and the folks who helped put this together deserve kudos for getting the message out in a way that’s unique, cost-efficient and obviously heartfelt. The IFSA does its best in tight budgetary times to prevent the tragedy of fires and burn injuries, and they serve as a shining example of what’s possible for the rest of us.
For more information about the IFSA and its programs, contact:
Mary Werderitch
Executive Director
Illinois Fire Safety Alliance
P. O. Box 911 Mount Prospect, IL 60056
Phone: 847/390-0911
Web: www.ifsa.org
