Spotlight on a Site

There are almost 900 Safe Sitter® teaching sites across the United States. Some are brand new sites and some have been teaching Safe Sitter® for many years.

We are pleased to share with you some of their best practices. . . what they do to make their Safe Sitter® programs hugely successful.

Spotlight on a Site Archive

Mercy Health System

Amy Carey likes to begin and end each of her Safe Sitter® classes with a question. 

"I always ask the kids what they think they will learn in class," said Amy, an Instructor and Site Coordinator at Mercy Health System in Janesville, Wisconsin since 2004. Answer: How to take care of kids and change diapers. 

"At the end of class, I always ask them what they learned that they didn't know before coming to class," she said. Answer: What to do if there is a problem while I'm babysitting.   

Safe Sitter® Instructors help young teens make that crucial shift in thinking about the importance of good babysitting and the seriousness of the responsibility. Amy believes that's one of the most satisfying parts about teaching. 

"Sometimes kids just think babysitting really is diaper changing and they don't realize that there could be behavior and injury problems," she said.

The satisfaction of helping guide young babysitters probably has a lot to do with why Mercy Health System, a site since 1994, has had such success retaining Instructors. 

"We haven't had a need to recruit Instructors for several years now. All of our Instructors love teaching the program so much that we haven't had any turnover," Amy said.

Together, those Instructors have taught hundreds of kids, helping to fulfill Mercy Health System's mission of giving back to the community by providing excellent health care while also looking out for its overall well being.

"We are teaching a generation of kids in our community to be smarter and safer and that benefits both my hospital and the community," said Amy.

The hospital teaches 12 to 20 classes each year, mostly on the main campus. However, occasionally they will teach off-site at a local or church or school if requested. The hospital is the only one in the area to offer Safe Sitter®.

"Other organizations offer something similar, but I think parents really trust the Safe Sitter® program and the fact that it is being offered by a hospital they trust," Amy said, adding that holding classes at the hospital is convenient for the public which certainly plays a role in the site's success. Classes are advertised through hospital fliers and the local newspaper with much success as well!

Oftentimes, our classes are so popular that we generate a waiting list and put the kids in the next class once one is filled," said Amy.     

Featured in the April 2012 Safe Sitter® Spot