Triumphant Return Of Parma Safety Fair
UH Parma Medical Center helicopter landing in the designated landing area in front of the Parma Justice Center.
Parma has one of the best safety records for a city of 80,000 people. One popular innovation over the years has been the Annual Safety Fair, presented at the Parma Justice Center by the Parma Police Department. Featuring hands on demonstrations by uniformed safety forces, firefighters, medical rescue units, Life Flight helicopter, SWAT, Bomb Unit, K-9 teams, Citizens Emergency Response Teams (CERT), Auxiliary Police, and many other community oriented associations. The Safety Fair was cancelled in 2020 after the Covid 10 Pandemic swept over the nation. Usually held in the Spring, this year it was scheduled for the end of August.
Because of current Covid restrictions, unfortunately the event was completely outside, meaning that tours of the courtrooms, jail facilities, Police Museum and other indoor activities were absent. Nevertheless, just being able to experience all of the activities with cooperative weather, albeit steamy, made up for anything else. As always, the landing of the UH Medical helicopter in the parking lot drew a big crowd, and people eagerly lined up to inspect the craft and learn from the crew about the important functions of this life saving service. The live demonstration presented by the Parma Fire Department of a grease fir in a kitchen setting and just how dangerous it can be when someone tries to put out the fire with water was a real eye opener, literally! The ever popular K-9 demonstration, where the training and prowess of our 5 Police Dogs is evident as they easily take down "perpetrators" wearing super padded suits while vainly struggling to resist.
Even though people of all ages come to the Safety Fair, it is a very kid oriented function, and indeed many children come with their parents and not only learn about the job our police, fire and medical personnel perform, but they also learn why we value these people and their professions. They understand more completely that their safety and that of their loved ones depends on relentless training and solid support from the cities where they live, including the resident. Above all else, they are taught that far from being afraid to interact, instead the safety forces are approachable and necessary for them to feel secure in their daily lives. Certainly in the crowd are more than a few young people who will one day choose to pursue the same career path and join our safety forces, some day also demonstrating their abilities at a Safety Fair in the future. That makes this one in 2021 seem more important than ever.
Daniel P. McCarthy
I am the publisher of the Parma Observer. Lifetime resident of Parma for over 50 years.