THOMASVILLE — Southwest Georgia Technical College (SWGTC) is offering a special course by Safe Sitter®, which is a medically accurate, competency-based, highly structured babysitting preparation course designed for 10-16 year olds. The curriculum, written by a physician, is presented in modules and taught in a basic and then advanced format.

“Safe Sitter® prepares young adolescents for the profound responsibilities of nurturing and protecting children,” said instructor Greg Souders. “The program was founded by an Indianapolis pediatrician, Dr. Patricia A. Keener, after a colleague's 18-month old choked to death while under an adult sitter's care. This is a tragedy that could have been avoided, had the babysitter in this situation have been trained on how to respond to such an emergency,” Souders added.

The Safe Sitter® basic course, which is a 6 1/2-hour class, includes instruction in Babysitting as a Business, Success on the Job, Child Care Essentials, Safety for the Sitter, Injury Management, Care of Choking Infant/Child, Preventing Injuries, and other topics. The basic course will be offered on Thursday and Sept. 17, Oct. 8, Nov. 5 and Dec. 3 from 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

The Safe Sitter® advanced course is designed for comprehensive coverage. It includes all of the topics in the basic course, plus infant and child CPR, and expanded information on preventing injuries and behavior management, as well as more in-class practice time on CPR and emergency response methods. This course will be offered July 22, Sept. 22, Oct. 13, and Dec. 15 from 4:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.

Gary Pitts, vice president of Economic Development, commented, “Babysitting is a very important job but not many babysitters have training that would allow them to provide life and safety skills to protect children. Safe Sitter® classes conducted by SWGTC not only teach essential babysitting skills but it teaches babysitters what to do if injuries occur and how to prevent them from happening in the first place. A complete list of safety topics are covered in this class including how to rescue a choking infant or child and how to get help if you need it. For parents, I believe this class would provide peace of mind when they use babysitters who have been trained in our Safe Sitter® program.”

Cost for each course is $50. To obtain more information on the Safe Sitter® courses or to register, call Ruby Barron at 227-2579.

SWGTC offers more than 80 certificate, diploma, and degree programs. Many of these programs provide training for some of the nation’s fastest-growing career fields including Nursing, Automotive Technology, Clinical Laboratory Technology, and Criminal Justice Technology. More information may be obtained by calling 229-225-4096 or by logging onto www.southwestgatech.edu.

Southwest Georgia Technical College is a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia.