Farm Safety Day

Dick Flickinger was probably the highlight of the day for children who attended the Farm Safety Day on Saturday at the Fairgrounds.

A soft-spoken man, at 83 Dick came to speak to the children about why they were there, Farm Safety. Dick was injured in a hay baling accident 47 years ago at the age of 32. (one of the kids present did the math.) Working on a farm custom baling, his machine had malfunctioned. So doing what anyone in a hurry would do, he acted before he thought.

With the nearest neighbor a quarter of a mile away, Dick had to cry for help, and fortunately, he was heard and helped, but not before losing his arm and injuring his leg.

He emphasized repeatedly to the children to "use what the good Lord gave you" pointing to his head. He shared with the children his injuries and how over time he was now able to lift his foot, while initially he had "drop foot" because of the nerve that had been damaged in the accident but the nerve grew back together and now he has full use of his foot saying, "our bodies are amazing machines!"

A quiet man, he was quick to point out that what happened was his fault and reemphasized to the children to take their time around equipment and to always turn it off if you need to work on it.

There were several other stations available for the children to visit this year. The children learned about combine safety and how to stay where the driver can see you. They were also shown why they should never approach the front of the machine and how to stay in view of the driver.

There was a first aid class, a station about how to call 911, atv safety, poison awareness, grain safety and PTO safety (to those like me that didn't know, that stands for Power Take Off motors), Lawn Equipment safety,

In all, about 70 children attended the annual event put together with the help of the local FFA chapter and Iowa State Extension.

To see all the pictures from the event click here.

News : Farm Safety Day

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