[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 10863-10864]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   SALUTING HOLLYWOOD, FLORIDA'S PUBLIC SERVICE RECOGNITION WEEK AND 
                  RECOGNIZING NATIONAL SAFE KIDS WEEK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, public service is among the most 
noble and demanding of professions, and excellence in the delivery of 
public service helps to keep the city of Hollywood, Florida, strong and 
prosperous and a wonderful place in which to live and work.
  The effectiveness and efficiency of government depends, in large 
measure, on public employees whose task it is to provide, on a daily 
basis, a broad range of services of the quality required and expected 
by the public. Quite often the importance of the public service that is 
rendered by public employees and the exemplary manner of their 
performance are often forgotten or overlooked.
  Public employees and volunteers, through their commitment to 
excellence and diversity of skills, have made great contributions to 
the City of Hollywood in areas such as public safety; recreational 
activities; neighborhood revitalization; and the delivery of water, 
sewer, and solid waste services.
  The City of Hollywood recognizes the contributions made by public 
employees as well as volunteers at all levels of city government and 
finds it fitting to set aside a special time to honor and thank these 
dedicated individuals who perform such vital roles.
  Public Service Recognition Week is being celebrated from May 7 
through May 13, 2007, and salutes approximately 1,700 City of Hollywood 
employees who devote their time and talents to public service and who 
``do whatever it takes'' to help citizens attain a high quality of 
life, and the numerous volunteers who contributed approximately 22,632 
hours of volunteer service.
  To provide even better service to the public, the City of Hollywood 
has committed to an organizational cultural change to enhance customer 
service and employee involvement and has initiated this process through 
the employee-guided strategic plan created by Hollywood City Manager 
Cameron D. Benson, a wonderful man, I might add.
  With that said, Mr. Speaker, I am honored to pay tribute to the City 
of Hollywood, Florida, in its celebration of Public Service Recognition 
Week.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, additionally, I also rise today to recognize 
National Safe Kids Week. This is an issue that is near and dear to my 
heart as a mom with three young children. This year National Safe Kids 
Week will be held from April 28 through May 6, 2007. That is the week 
that we are in now. National Safe Kids Week is a joint partnership 
between Safe Kids Worldwide and its founding sponsor, Johnson & 
Johnson. This week of public education activities has been held 
annually for 19 years and draws much-needed attention to accidental 
childhood injury, a leading killer of children 14 and under.
  This year's National Safe Kids Weeks' theme is ``Make it a Safe Kids 
Summer.'' The start of summer is known by emergency personnel as 
``trauma season'' since accidental deaths and serious injuries to 
children increase dramatically. An average of 17 children a day, or 
2,143 children in total, died from May to August, 2004, due to 
injuries, many of which could have been prevented.
  Safe Kids Worldwide research indicates that five of the most common 
causes of children's accidental injury deaths in summer are drowning, 
which increases 89 percent in the summer over the monthly annual 
average; biking, which increases 45 percent; falls, which increase 21 
percent; motor vehicle passenger injuries, which increase 20 percent; 
pedestrian injuries, which increase 16 percent.
  In fact, almost 60 percent of total children's accidental injury 
deaths from May to August from 2001 to 2004 came from these risk areas. 
Events led by Safe Kids coalitions are taking place in more than 300 
communities across the Nation in order to educate parents and families 
about how to keep kids safe during the summer, especially when 
participating in these activities. As my home State of Florida, 
drowning prevention is an important concern of mine as a parent and as 
a legislator. In fact, drowning is the leading cause of unintentional 
injury-related death to children in the summer months in Florida.
  My most rewarding victory, Mr. Speaker, came from the passage of the 
Florida Residential Swimming Pool Safety Act. I was honored to sponsor 
this law as a State legislator, which has helped to save countless 
numbers of children from accidental injury and drowning in Florida 
pools. As the majority of drownings and near drownings occur in 
residential swimming pools and in open water sites, I hope that more 
States work to address water safety in their communities.
  Recently I introduced similar Federal legislation here in the House 
of Representatives. My legislation, the Pool & Spa Safety Act, would 
provide grants to States that pass such comprehensive safety laws and 
also support drowning prevention educational programs, among other 
provisions. Along with my colleague Representative Frank Wolf, we hope 
this bill will be passed before another ``trauma season'' occurs for 
our Nation's children. I encourage my colleagues to lend it their 
support.
  I also urge my colleagues to support National Safe Kids Week and to 
work

[[Page 10864]]

with your State or local Safe Kids coalition to prevent these 
accidental injuries to children not only in the summer months but 
throughout the year.

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