The following is a press release written by Tania Daffron and Desiree DeMolina for the City of Bloomington.
Bloomington, Ind. – The Bloomington Fire Department (BFD) is now the home of Monroe County’s first permanent station to fit child car seats in vehicles. Through the program, BFD’s headquarters at 320 W. 8th St., STE 220, will house a supply of State-provided child car seats available at no cost to eligible parents or child caregivers. To receive a free car seat, a parent or guardian must receive a form of state aid, and the car's driver must be licensed.
The program was initiated by BFD’s Mobile Integrated Healthcare (MIH) team in collaboration with the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute and was approved by the Indiana Department of Health.
The MIH program’s Emergency Medical Technicians have been trained and certified to install child car seats since 2023. To date, the MIH team has installed 45 seats.
Child caregivers can make an appointment or walk in to BFD’s Headquarters located at 320 W. 8th, Suite 220 or call to make an appointment. In some cases, the MIH team will be able to drive to a location to fit and install a car seat.
“We are excited to bring this permanent resource to the community and in order to make our children safer,” said MIH Program Manager, Shelby VanDerMoere.
Free car seat fitting is also provided by Indiana University Health Bloomington Community Health, the Bloomington Police Department, and the Monroe County Health Department.
