MORGANTOWN – The sun had ducked behind the clouds at noon Monday as a small crowd gathered in front of WVU Medicine Golisano Children’s. A few raindrops were falling and a chilly wind was making everyone shiver.
But, serendipitously, the wind was making the dozens of blue pinwheels spin – nature acknowledging the importance of the day.
The gathering marked the start of the annual Pinwheels for Prevention in honor of Child Abuse Prevention Month.
Dr. Pavi Ellison, Children’s associate chief quality officer, said, “This is not just a month. It’s a yearlong, lifelong journey. … This is an important month for awareness and action, as we work to protect children across our community, our state and our region.”
The blue pinwheel represents a happy and healthy childhood that many children don’t have, Ellison said. “It represents the laughter, safety and love that each child deserves. .. Let them be a reminder of the bright futures that we are working to build for our children.”
Dr. Amy Gavril, chief of the child safety team, said her team is asked every day to see children who may be abused and neglected.
There are big programs and policies to address and prevent abuse and neglect, she said, but there are also ways for any individual to help detect and prevent it.
As individuals, she said, we can help families build healthy relationships. We can be a supportive friend, neighbor, coworker. We can assist our neighbors with children with food, transportation, child care, parenting skills.
“We should be supporting our parents, not judging or shaming them,” she said.
We can help the children too, she said. We can teach them about respectful relationships, body safety and autonomy, and boundaries – physical boundaries and inappropriate touching – to help keep them safe.
When children talk, listen, she said. “Believe them when they tell you something has happened to them.”
And if you see possible abuse and neglect, report it, she said.
Following the ceremony, the pinwheels were brought back inside the hospital to be set up in pots at every welcome area at every unit, to serve as a month-long reminder of their work to address and prevent child abuse and neglect.
