They don't need fresh images to trigger a child safety lesson. Men and women who respond to emergencies stress prevention because they harbor raw memories.

"No matter how long you've been policing, and no matter what you've seen, working any type of injury or fatality involving a child is one of the worst things you have to do," said Gainesville police officer Kevin Holbrook. "It touches all of us."

That's one reason many in uniform here participate with Safe Kids Gainesville/Hall County. And it's why Holbrook, a five-year member, has accepted a leadership role as board member and program director. He is replacing Hall County Fire Service's Beverley Walker, who's leaving the volunteer post to devote attention to her new job training firefighters.

As part of the position, Holbrook will help create and execute educational programs designed to reduce accidental injuries to children, said Kim Martin, coordinator of the Safe Kids coalition.

"Kids are going to fall down and get bumps and bruises," Martin said. "What we're trying to prevent are those really severe, debilitating injuries, which can last throughout a child's life."

Holbrook will join Martin and others during a January meeting designed to address Safe Kids' action plan and 2011 schedule.

In addition to established presentations for parents and children stressing four injury areas - water, fire, sports and passenger safety - new audiences will be targeted. Teenagers are foremost, with baby-sitting classes among the fresh ideas Martin expects the board to explore next month.

"A lot of teens and siblings are keeping their younger brothers and sisters, especially in the summer when they're out of school," she said.

Funded by the Medical Center Foundation's Healthy Journey Campaign, Safe Kids reached an estimated 52,250 children and family members as well as teachers and caregivers last year, Martin said.

Nearly 6,000 pieces of equipment such as child car and booster seats, life jackets, bicycle helmets and cabinet latches, were handed out.

When it first formed in 1992, the local group, which today is aligned with the international organization Safe Kids, hoped simply to cut down on injuries emergency workers identified in statistics as preventable.

"I think the need has always been there. Even when I was a kid, we did crazy and careless things," said Capt. Scott Cagle, Hall County fire marshal and a member of the coalition since its infancy. "Safe Kids just gives us another avenue to use to get another message out there."

Cagle used riding a bicycle without a helmet as a common example then, and now.

As it happens, a bicycle helmet class led Holbrook, community relations officer for the Gainesville Police Department, to Safe Kids.

He laughs now recalling his answer to a superior who directed him to visit with children through the coalition.

"My boss came in and said, ‘You're going to go to this elementary school with ‘Safe Kids,' " Holbrook said. "My first reaction, ‘If they're a bunch of safe kids, why am I going?' "

Holbrook, who is also part of the Lanier Child Passenger Safety Task Force, learned the group's importance before an audience.

"I didn't really know what it was at first," he said. "Then I taught second graders the dynamics of (helmet safety). I was hooked."

Today, he counts all the children he meets as his own in a way and stresses to their parents how statistics alone don't paint complete pictures of tragedy.

"That's probably one of the hardest things to get the public to understand," Holbrook said. "Until they have that terrible image in mind, they might not be paying attention."