ECSO TO PRESENT CARFIT EVENT FOR SENIORS

ECSO TO PRESENT CARFIT EVENT FOR SENIORS
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office Community Oriented Policing Unit will be presenting Operation CarFit on Saturday, November 10, 2012. The event will be held in the back parking lot of Hillcrest Baptist Church on Nine Mile Road and Guidy Lane from 8:00 am until noon. A unique program geared for senior citizens, CarFit was developed in collaboration with the American Society on Aging, AAA, AARP and the American Occupational Therapy Association. CarFit is the first program to offer older adults the opportunity to check how their personal cars “fit” them.
Trained professionals will lead drivers through a 12-point checklist with their vehicle, recommend car adjustments and adaptations and offer community specific resources and activities that could make their cars “fit” better or enhance their safety. An occupational therapist also will be on hand to provide information to older drivers on how to maintain and strengthen driving health.
The sessions take approximately 20 minutes per driver/vehicle. Advanced scheduling is encouraged. To schedule your CarFit session contact Rhonda Ray at the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at 436-9553.
Reporters will be able to interview mobility experts, drivers, and shoot footage of this event.
Why is CarFit Important?: People over 65 are the fastest-growing population in the United States. By 2030, one in five drivers will be age 65 or older, which means there will be more than 30 million older drivers on our roads. Because of their fragility, seniors have the highest crash death rate of everyone except teenagers.