Do something.
It’s a phrase firefighters often hear when responding to medical calls, and one they wish others would remember when it comes to preventing injuries to children, said Tucson Fire Department Capt. Beto Vasquez.
A few months ago Vasquez was talking with fellow firefighters at Fire Station 4 near Grant Road and Interstate 10 and found they all shared similar experiences.
“We found a common thread in all of the high stress calls that we went on that the highest level of stress calls that we go on involve children,” Vasquez said. “It seems like when we arrived at these scenes, the parents or the caregiver whoever the adult at the scene would grab one of us at the shoulder and yell at us like they were really upset, I know they’re not . . . they all told us to do something for their kids, and in the back of our minds we always wanted to say ‘why didn’t you do something before?’”
Simple things like making sure kids are properly secured in car seats or wearing seatbelts, making sure they’re wearing a helmet before going out bike riding, and keeping a secure fence around pools are some of the things parents can do to help keep their children safe, and are all scenarios part of three recently released public service announcements created by TFD inspired by Vasquez’ conversation.
Each 35-second video shows fire crews arriving at the scene of a car crash, a drowning and a bike accident, distraught parents beg them to do something to help their injured children.
The video then rewinds back in time showing parents doing something to prevent the accidents.
“It’s the really minor things that once the accident has happened I bet you that anybody who’s been involved in an accident like that . . . would give anything that they possess to rewind back to the moment when they could have done something,” Vasquez said.
Vasquez says he hopes the PSA’s, produced by Channel 12, will help remind and empower parents to make the right choices when it comes to their child’s safety.
“It was born out of seeing too many children hurt and trying to find a different way for us to help because, yes we are here, we are trained, are are ready 24/7, 365, it doesn’t matter we’re available for the community,” Vasquez said. “But no matter how much training we do how much cutting edge technology we go through . . . we can never undo everything.”
One parent has already told Vasquez that they were going to install a fence around the pool after seeing the drowning PSA.
There are plans to continue to expand the “Do Something” campaign with more PSA’s but for now the three finished products can be viewed in English and Spanish.
