Overview
About the event
National attention to keeping kids safe at home and play began in the mid-1980s. In 1986, U.S. Congress passed a resolution naming a week in early June as �??National Children�??s Accident Prevention Week.�?�
President Ronald Reagan signed the change into effect, making that period an official time to focus on stopping avoidable harm.
That declaration shifted the conversation. Families and professionals saw that many child injuries and deaths didn�??t have to happen.
Two years later, in 1988, pediatric trauma surgeon Dr. Martin�??R. Eichelberger and public relations specialist Herta Feely founded the National SAFE KIDS Campaign at Children�??s National Hospital in Washington, D.C.
They built this nonprofit to share safety tools and ideas across the country. Supported by Johnson & Johnson and led by Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, the Campaign grew quickly.
This movement helped fuel the annual safety observance. Over time, �??National Children�??s Accident Prevention Week�?� evolved into what we now call National Childhood Injury Prevention Week. Safe Kids Worldwide played a key role in keeping it alive and relevant.
