For more than a decade, parents have been able to go get their car seats checked for safety measures, but Capital Health has decided to put the brakes on monthly car seat clinics at city fire halls.
The reason for the sudden change, according to Capital Health, was due to the vast improvement in how most parents are installing their car seats. The decision was made partly so the health region could focus its efforts on making sure new immigrants have the right information.
"Now by freeing up some of our staff from the clinics that traditionally have been extremely labour intensive, we're able to then go and give it to the people that are under-served because there's a translator there," said Lavey Hoyland with Capital Health.
Hoyland said parents can still call their public health unit with car seat questions, but they can't guarantee parents will get a one-on-one session.
"It depends on what the situation is in how the seat is being used and that would be based on a thorough assessment over the phone," she said.
But canceling these clinics has the Alberta Safety Council concerned, as they claim some issues such as dealing with anchoring the seat properly and using the seatbelt correctly cannot be addressed over the phone.
One mom CTV News spoke with is disappointed the clinics are being canceled and appreciated having an expert check things over.
"Every car seat is a little different and it's nice to have a second opinion of somebody who has some education on how they work," said Laura Green.
With files from CTV's Laura Tupper
