NORWAY – Stephens Memorial Hospital has announced the success of its first Safe Sitter babysitting course. Instructors Alison Newton, RN, and Lois Hardy, RN, welcomed the first class of 10 students in June, and the class is full for July and August, and filling quickly for December.

Class attendee Devin Ludwig said, “A babysitting class is important because babysitting should be looked at as safe, fun, and a way to provide child care and make a little money. There are so many things I’ve learned in this class that I probably wouldn’t have learned anywhere else.”

Safe Sitter (www.safesitter .org) is a medically accurate program that teaches 11- to 13-year-olds how to be safe, nurturing babysitters. The goal of the program is to reduce the number of avoidable and unintentional deaths among children being cared for by babysitters.

There was lecture time as well as hands-on time with young children from the community to help the students learn different techniques of distraction, play and safety.

Alivia Bradley summed the class up on her evaluation, “Through this class, I have learned the many things that could go wrong while babysitting. Fortunately, I also learned what I can do to help or even prevent these accidents from happening. This class is extremely important because it teaches us how to be responsible and prepared babysitters. Everything we have learned will benefit our sitting experiences and I think it was all very necessary.”

Call 743-1562, ext. 380, to sign up for classes and more information. Stephens Memorial Hospital is an affiliate of Western Maine Health, which is part of the Maine Health family. Visit Western Maine Health on the Internet at www.wmhcc.org.