On Thursday, April 19, a third-grade class at Beverly Park Elementary in Burien celebrated National 9-1-1 Education Month by taking a course that may help them save a life.
The course was a follow-up to a 9-1-1 surprise quiz, where one out of four children could not identify the right number to call in an emergency and class average on the rest of the quiz was a “C” grade.
“These results are concerning. Our goal is to make sure every child is prepared in an emergency and that’s why we’re introducing a new 9-1-1 education campaign,” said Kayreen Lum, Program Manager III for King County’s E-911 Office. “These students are not alone in their 9-1-1 knowledge. Every day, more than 5,000 calls are made to King County’s 9-1-1 call centers. Only half of these calls are for actual emergencies.”
To make 9-1-1 approachable to kids, King County created a toolbox that will be made available at no charge to schools and community-based organizations. The toolbox is filled with interactive activities featuring King County’s 9-1-1’s mascot, Emery the Emergency Penguin. King County is one of the most linguistically diverse counties in the country, so the toolbox is available in 10 languages.
“Today’s lesson was a great reminder that teaching kids 9-1-1 at an early age is well worth the effort,” said Robin Lamoureux, Beverly Park Elementary School Principal. “We issued a retest today and I’m excited that all students can now identify 9-1-1 as the number to call in an emergency.”
During the month of April, parents and caregivers are encouraged to celebrate National 9-1-1 Education Month by teaching their kids the how, when and where of calling 9-1-1. The public can also test their 9-1-1 knowledge by taking the same pop quiz.
The quiz and a variety of downloadable resources are available including a 9-1-1 emergency song, coloring book and smartphone 9-1-1 practice page at: kingcounty.gov/911 (look for Emery’s page!).
Click images to view larger versions/slideshow:
