Press Release:
Valdosta – Zykorean Jackson’s grandmother, Patricia Johnson, has waited years for a car seat that would properly transport Zy, as she likes to call him. Zy is five years old and was born with many birth defects: agenesis of the corpus callosum, scoliosis, and cerebral palsy. He is legally blind and markedly developmentally delayed.
Due to his birth defects, Zy cannot sit up on his own without assistance which makes it medically necessary to be transported in a car seat fit specifically for him. After Ms. Johnson searched for over a year for the specialized seat, she contacted Cynthia Sharper, certified car seat technician at Lowndes County Health Department with a desperate plea for help.
Ms. Johnson found much relief upon hearing Sharper had recently attended a training, Transporting Children with Special Needs, and knew who to contact to find a specialized car seat. Through the Child Occupant Safety Project with the Georgia Department of Public Health’s Injury Prevention Program in Atlanta, a program specialist, Zetta Jones, was able to secure a car seat for Zy. Numerous staff members were able to assist Ms. Johnson with the installation of the car seat in July and meet Zy for the first time.
“Helping people in our community is what it’s all about,” stated Sharper. “Knowing Zy and Ms. Johnson will be able to do more now because of help we were able to give her, brings so much happiness to all involved.”
Ms. Johnson stated, “You all have done more for my grandson and me in two months, than anyone else has promised in over a year. Hats off to you all at the Lowndes County Health Department, Mrs. Sharper and indeed Mrs. Zetta.”
The Child Passenger Safety Mini Grant program at Lowndes County Health Department provides families in need, that fall under a low-income status, a child safety seat for their children. The program is designed to ensure children arrive alive each time they’re transported in a vehicle through this grant from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.
The special needs seat for Zy was funded through DPH’s Maternal and Child Health program. Car seat safety classes are held monthly and are open to the community. For more information on the Child Passenger Safety Program, call Cynthia Sharper at Lowndes County Health Department at 259-2063 or 333-5257.
