It’s national recognition for the privately-funded NEVER LEAVE A CHILD UNATTENDED® (NLCU) program created nine years ago by Don and Amy Kryak of Port St. Lucie, Florida. This program has been supported by local and area law enforcement and is available in English, Spanish, Creole and Portuguese.

In October 2006, the Florida Student Nurses Association (FSNA) passed a resolution endorsing the program and is proposing the resolution to the National Student Nurses Association (NSNA) at its April meeting in Anaheim, CA. Its passage would mean that every nursing student would become a spokesperson for NEVER LEAVE A CHILD UNATTENDED®.

Melanie Miller of Mount Dora, FL authored the resolution as president of the Lake-Sumter Community College Student Nurses’ Association. Her comments when she presented the resolution included, “…this resolution Is written in order to raise awareness within the healthcare community with regard to the prevention of unintentional injury through constant supervision. This resolution is also meant to encourage our future nurses to support ‘NEVER LEAVE A CHILD UNATTENDED®’ as the vehicle for this increased awareness as it grows into a national campaign.”

The resolution includes a provision that the national association provide a NSNA website to link to the NEVER LEAVE A CHILD UNATTENDED® program. It also includes a provision that the NSNA send a copy of the resolution to the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, The American Academy of Family Physicians, the Association of Family Practice Physician Assistants, the National Association of Pediatric Nurses, the American Academy of Pediatrics and any other organizations with its board deems appropriate.

The program was founded in 1993 following a tragic summer in which three drownings occurred in St. Lucie County, FL while children were unsupervised. In Florida, drowning is the number one killer of children ages four and under.

The NEVER LEAVE A CHILD UNATTENDED® program also focuses on abductions, heat stroke and children who wander away while unsupervised. There are a number of products available to promote this important message, including T–shirts, posters, brochures and reminder postcards with magnets, print ads and reminder buttons. This public information campaign is funded by the Kryaks and Lost Art Advertising donates all of the creative materials.

Amy Kryak says, “Don and I have a true passion in getting this message to as many people as we can reach. We believe we have a purpose to use our expertise in law enforcement, education and communication to help save children’s lives.”

Don is a Captain with the Port St. Lucie, FL Police Department and Amy, who is president of Lost Art Advertising, has an extensive background in communications, advertising and education.

For more information contact: www.neverleaveachildunattended.org or call NEVER LEAVE A CHILD UNATTENDED ® at (772) 878-8878.