LITTLE ROCK – Parents and children are invited to perfect their putting at an annual golf outing in support of Safe from the Start, a car seat safety education program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).

In its third year, the outing is moving from the links to the miniature golf course to include the entire family in a morning of unlimited miniature golf, games and eating from 9 a.m. to noon Oct. 18 at Gator Golf in Little Rock. Cost is $15 for adults, $5 for kids and $30 max for a family of four. Unlimited miniature golf, additional games for kids and lunch will be provided until noon, and a tournament will be held in the afternoon.  

Advance tickets are required for both the morning and afternoon activities. For more information about reserving a spot to play or to make a donation contact Mary Aitken, M.D., medical director of Safe from the Start, at (501) 364-3300 or Amy Dossey, president of the UAMS College of Medicine Pediatric Interest Group, at (501) 326-3300.

Proceeds from the event will benefit Safe from the Start, a child passenger safety education program that serves the families of infants born at UAMS. The tournament is sponsored by the Pediatric Interest Group at the UAMS College of Medicine. The UAMS Medical Center Auxiliary and others have provided support and resources to the program.

Safe from the Start, a partnership between the UAMS Departments of Nursing and Neonatology, teaches new parents how to select and use child safety seats. New parents can view a car seat video in English or Spanish in their hospital room, receive basic child safety seat instruction from trained staff, or have a certified child passenger safety technician teach them how to install the car seat in their vehicle.

Parents who do not have a child safety seat can purchase one at reduced cost through the program; loaner car beds also are available for medically fragile infants.

When correctly installed, child safety seats are 71 percent effective in reducing death for infants involved in a vehicular crash. Low birth weight infants are at a particularly high risk for injury; UAMS houses the largest high-risk obstetric program in the state.

With more than 200 members, the UAMS College of Medicine’s Pediatric Interest Group consists of students pursuing a career in pediatric medicine. The group is active in various charitable and educational programs and offers a mentoring program between physicians and students.

UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a medical center, six centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has 2,538 students and 733 medical residents. Its centers of excellence include the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute and the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging. It is one of the state’s largest public employers with about 9,600 employees, including nearly 1,150 physicians who provide medical care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS’ Area Health Education Centers throughout the state. UAMS and its affiliates have an economic impact in Arkansas of $5 billion a year. Visit www.uams.edu.