Carle Foundation Hospital – The Center for Rural Health and Farm Safety’s Progressive Agriculture Safety Days

April 2018 - Having grown up on her family’s farm in Illinois, Amy Rademaker knows that farming is more than a job. It’s also a culture, a family tradition and a major driver of the economy. She also knows that too many children lose their lives in preventable agriculture-related incidents. Amy is a Farm Safety Specialist at the Carle Foundation Hospital’s Center for Rural Health and Farm Safety in Urbana, Illinois. Like Carle Foundation Hospital, Amy is invested in the community’s health and wellbeing. For 16 years she’s been leading Progressive Agriculture Safety Days, across rural Illinois, to teach children about key health and safety measures on a farm: from hearing loss and long-term disability to tractor and grain bin safety. A parent herself, Amy’s goal is to ensure no parent loses a child to a preventable farm-related incident. Since Carle Foundation Hospital began its Agriculture Safety Days, preventable farm-related deaths have decreased in their counties, but there is still more work to do. As long as farming remains a central part of their community, Carle Foundation Hospital will continue working to ensure its community’s health and safety.