Safe Sitter® Releases New Curriculum
and Introduces New Medical Director

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Safe Sitter® will usher in 2012 with a new curriculum and a newly-appointed medical director. 

Sara Ross, M.D., of the Children's Hospital at Montefiore, Bronx, NY, will be at the helm as the nearly 32-year-old national babysittter program unveils the newest version of its curriculum in January 2012. The comprehensive curriculum, updated with a modern, hip flair to appeal to today's young teens, includes babysitting training and more. 

The new curriculum will include a convenient "1-day with CPR & choking rescue" course option that follows the most current American Heart Association guidelines for rescue skills. The new curriculum also provides instruction in the latest first aid techniques from the American Academy of Pediatrics. It has been streamlined for ease of teaching. 

"Safe Sitter® is a well-rounded youth development program with a medical basis," said Executive Director Sally Herrholz. "Instructors who teach the program find it rewarding to know they're preventing injuries in their communities but they're just as excited to know that other skills, like business, medical, personal safety and parenting, are being taught." 

Herrholz said the organization is also excited to have Dr. Ross assume the role of medical director, a position she inherits from Safe Sitter® founder and medical director, Dr. Patricia A. Keener. Dr. Ross currently serves as attending physician in Montefiore's Division of Pediatric Critical Care. She's also program director of the hospital's Pediatric Residency Training Program. 

"In addition to being an outstanding pediatrician, Dr. Keener is an inspiration. She created this life-saving program and we knew that it would take someone very special and supremely qualified to fill her role as medical director. We've found that person in Dr. Ross," Herrholz said. 

Dr. Ross is the author of a number of manuscripts, abstracts and book chapters. She has also made presentations at the New York Society of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Annual Fellows Research Night and the Society of Critical Care Medicine's 36^th Critical Care Congress. She's also an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY.

About Safe Sitter®:

Safe Sitter® is the only national not-for-profit solely devoted to babysitting training for young adolescents (no younger than 11). Founded in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1980 by Dr. Patricia A. Keener, a nationally recognized board certified pediatrician, Safe Sitter® has 800+ teaching sites across the United States.

For more information on Safe Sitter®, visit www.safesitter.org or call 800-255-4089.

Media contact:
Jennifer Seward
infojennifer@safesitter.org ; phone: 800-255-4089 ext 19

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