Nova Scotia Students Receive Safety Lessons with DVD from Brampton

Wednesday, Dec 12 2007, 02:00

Elementary students across Nova Scotia are getting an important lesson in home safety from world champion skater Barbara Underhill, her husband Rick Gaetz and Brampton Fire & Emergency Services.

The couple, who lost their daughter Stephanie to drowning 14 years ago, joined with the Nova Scotia Department of Education, Brampton Fire and Emergency Services and Mount Saint Vincent University to announce a new interactive resource aimed at raising awareness of home hazards and preventing injuries.

The Stephanie's Place DVD and CD-ROM was officially presented to students at Portland Estates Elementary School.

"We have it in us to empower our children and educate them in matters of safety," said Ms. Underhill, of the Stephanie Gaetz Foundation. "This educational program will go along way towards injury prevention and ensuring a safe environment at home and at play."

The Stephanie's Place DVD, made possible through funding provided by the Stephanie Gaetz Foundation, will be made available to every elementary school in the province to support Nova Scotia's Health Education curriculum in Grades Primary to 3.

"This is a resource that I know will be greatly appreciated by our students, their families, and teachers right across the province," said Alan Lowe, Nova Scotia's senior executive director of Public Schools. The DVD and CD-ROM provides teachers and care givers with teaching tools to impart fire and life safety skills to people of all ages. The video is based on the safety education program developed and taught at the Fire/Life Safety Education Centre in Brampton, Ontario.

"Each year in Canada, more children die from injuries than from all diseases combined," said Andy MacDonald, Deputy Fire Chief, Brampton Fire & Emergency Services. "I am thrilled that the province of Nova Scotia is including Stephanie's Place as part of their educational curriculum."

The Brampton Fire/Life Safety Education Centre is the only stand-alone education centre of its kind in the world. Stephanie's Place, an integral part of the centre, is designed as a model home with built-in hazards to provide children and their families with hands-on learning experiences so they can better understand the dangers of fire and other home hazards.