First responders join the MANicure Movement

April 5, 2019

Port St. Lucie -

They came in heavy boots and utility belts.

But they left in fingernail polish.

It was all part of the MANicure Movement - a child-abuse prevention initiative kicked off Wednesday at the St. Lucie County Fire District in observation of National Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month.

Port St. Lucie Police Chief John Bolduc, Fort Pierce Police Chief Diane Hobley-Burney, and Fire Chief Nate Spera led what became a daylong procession of first-responders, checking in to get their pointer fingers painted in "prevention blue" fingernail polish.

"The whole point is to start a conversation about child-abuse prevention, so we wanted to do something that catches people's attention," said Christina Kaiser, CCKids community relations director. "If men walk around the community all month with a fingernail painted blue, people are going to ask why."

The answer to that question is simple: One fingernail painted blue, starts one conversation that one in five children experience abuse by age 18.

That's the MANicure Movement in one sentence, said Kaiser, adding that the initiative
began three years ago in Orlando to spark community-wide conversations about ways to stop violence against children.

This is the first year the movement has come to Okeechobee and the Treasure Coast -
a good match for local firefighters and law enforcement officers, who see the results of child abuse up close and on a regular basis.

"Paramedics often interact with children who have been abused, and it's a very hard thing to do," Spera said. "It's a real challenge."

Locally, more than 1,000 children are in the child-welfare system, and more than 700 of those children live out of home due to abuse or neglect.

"It's really important that we make people aware this is going on here and that we talk about it," Bolduc said. "One in five children; that's why we painted one nail out of five."

Listen to full coverage of the event and interviews with chiefs Spera, Hobley-Burney and Bolduc at WQCS.

Interested in becoming a foster parent? Call Jerra Wisecup at (772) 249-3188 or click here. Or, if you are interested in being a Volunteer Child Advocate, call Nicole Hughes at (772) 785-5804.