Charlene Freestone on Parenting, Child Safety & Building Community in Lehi | Roots & Branches

Charlene Freestone, child passenger safety technician at Primary Children's Hospital Lehi, shares how she built community from scratch, opened a Main Street boutique, and now keeps Lehi families safer on the road.

Charlene Freestone on Parenting, Child Safety & Building Community in Lehi | Roots & Branches

Charlene Freestone, child passenger safety technician at Primary Children's Hospital Lehi, shares how she built community from scratch, opened a Main Street boutique, and now keeps Lehi families safer on the road.

Charlene Freestone on Parenting, Child Safety & Building Community in Lehi

Community Is Not Found - It Is Built

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Episode Overview

Guest

Role in Lehi

Time Periods Discussed

Primary Topics

Episode Highlights

Key Stories from the Interview

"Make Your Own Community"

The Old Lehi Hotel Boutique

The Earthquake Realization

The Job Interview in a Minivan

12 Years to the Day

The Counterfeit Car Seat Warning

What This Interview Teaches Us About Lehi

Community Is Built, Not Inherited

Main Street as Small Business Incubator

The Recession Shaped a Generation

Healthcare Infrastructure Is Expanding Locally

COVID-19 Reshaped Local Business

Parenting Support Is a Community Infrastructure

The Post-Recession Baby Boom Strained Regional Capacity

Consumer Safety Follows Population Growth

Community & Legacy Themes

Memorable Quotes

Related Lehi Topics & Episodes

Building Community as a New Resident

Parenting Resources & Support Networks

Growth of Healthcare in Lehi

Women Entrepreneurs in Utah

COVID-19 Impact on Local Business

Child Safety & Public Health

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Full Transcript

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From a lonely new mom on Facebook to a child passenger safety technician at Primary Children's Hospital in Lehi, Charlene shares how community is not found - it is built.

In this episode of Roots & Branches of Lehi , Ryan Harding sits down with Charlene Freestone - a child passenger safety technician at Primary Children's Hospital in Lehi, a former Main Street boutique owner, a mom of three, and someone who learned early in her Lehi residency that community does not simply arrive at your door. When loneliness set in after moving from an apartment complex to a house with a newborn, her mother gave her advice that would reshape her life: You need to make your own community. It is not going to find you.

What followed was a journey through Lehi's modern social fabric: a Facebook moms group that became a nonprofit baby-wearing chapter, a natural parenting boutique on historic Main Street, and eventually a career pivot into healthcare that brought her full circle to the same hospital where a certified technician had once helped transport her own medically complex son home. Charlene's story is a case study in how Lehi's newest residents build the connections that become the town's next layer of history - one playgroup, one car seat check, and one honest conversation at a time.

Along the way, she offers urgent, practical knowledge every Lehi parent needs: how to spot counterfeit car seats sold online, why the most at-risk group in car accidents is not infants but 8-to-12-year-olds, and where to find free safety checks across Utah County. Whether you are a new parent navigating Lehi's growth, a longtime resident curious about the hospital campus on your doorstep, or simply someone who believes small actions create community, this episode is essential listening.

Join Ryan Harding and Charlene Freestone for a warm, practical conversation about building community from scratch, navigating parenthood in a growing city, and why the right car seat is the one you can install correctly every single time.

Charlene Freestone

Child Passenger Safety Technician, Community Builder, Parent Educator

2009 - Present (Recession era to modern Lehi)

Community building, child safety, car seat education, small business, COVID impact, healthcare

Fresh out of BYU in 2009, Charlene moved into a Lehi house with her first baby and felt profoundly alone. When she called her mother to complain, the response was direct: "You need to make your own community. It's not going to find you." That advice sparked a Facebook moms group, a baby-wearing nonprofit chapter, and eventually a natural parenting boutique. What began as one lonely mother's outreach became a lasting community infrastructure for young Lehi families.

Charlene's first formal business was a natural parenting boutique located in the old Lehi Hotel on Main Street, right by the train tracks. She rented from the midwife still operating there and shared the historic building with gem sellers and wedding dress rentals. The shop sold cloth diapers and baby carriers, but its real mission was parent education classes and community space. Though they eventually outgrew the location and moved to Sandy, the experience anchored Charlene in downtown Lehi's small-business ecosystem.

On the day of the March 2020 Utah earthquake, Charlene had a crystal-clear realization: COVID-19 meant parents would never bring small children to stores again. Rather than cling to her Main Street boutique, she folded immediately - selling her share to co-owners and accepting that the business model was no longer viable. The nonprofit dissolved, the boutique closed, and Charlene pivoted to working at her children's school as a teacher's aid. It was a painful but decisive adaptation that ultimately opened the door to her current role in healthcare.

At a 2021 Child Safety Week checkpoint, Charlene encountered a family with six children in a seven-seater minivan - five car seats plus one child on a wooden box. She and another technician spent an hour and twenty minutes physically rearranging seats, installing new ones, and problem-solving. Just as they finished, the pregnant mother asked where the newborn should go. They started completely over. The co-worker, impressed by Charlene's problem-solving, revealed she now managed the Salt Lake Primary Children's Hospital program and had been trying to hire her for years. The Lehi campus was the carrot that finally made it possible.

Charlene's son was born with complex medical needs requiring surgery. In 2011, Primary Children's in Salt Lake was so overcapacity from the post-recession baby boom that surgeons had to operate at Utah Valley Hospital instead. A nurse who helped discharge her son was a child passenger safety technician - a job Charlene didn't know existed. Exactly 12 years later to the day, Charlene walked into Utah Valley Hospital for her first day as an Intermountain employee, looking up at the same building where her son's journey had begun. "I'm back," she thought. "But this time I'm helping people."

Charlene reveals an alarming trend: counterfeit car seats are flooding the market through third-party Amazon and eBay sellers. The most commonly counterfeited model retails for $600 but fakes sell for $300. Parents think they scored a deal, but these seats lack federal safety labeling, proper model numbers, and manufacturing location details. In crash tests, legitimate seats move to absorb force; counterfeits shatter and explode. Charlene's advice: buy only from authorized retailers, check for consistent FMVSS labeling, and if the price seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Charlene's mother's advice - "Make your own community" - reflects a reality for modern Lehi. With so many residents moving from outside Utah County, grassroots groups, Facebook meetups, and parent-led nonprofits have become the new civic foundation.

Charlene's boutique in the old Lehi Hotel shows how downtown's historic spaces continue to nurture niche, education-focused businesses that strengthen community identity beyond retail transactions.

Graduating into the 2009 recession forced Charlene and many young families to stay in Utah County when other opportunities dissolved. This demographic wave contributed to Lehi's population surge and the demand for family services.

The opening of Primary Children's Hospital in Lehi represents a major shift - complex pediatric care and specialized services like child passenger safety are now available locally instead of requiring drives to Salt Lake.

Charlene's decision to close her boutique the day of the Utah earthquake illustrates how abruptly the pandemic eliminated in-person community commerce, forcing entrepreneurs to pivot or disappear.

From baby-wearing libraries to free car seat checks, Lehi's parents have created support networks that function as informal public services - filling gaps left by rapid growth and limited institutional childcare options.

Charlene's son's surgery being moved to Utah Valley Hospital in 2011 because Salt Lake was overcapacity shows how population growth created healthcare pressure years before Lehi's current expansion peak.

The rise of counterfeit car seats targeting price-conscious parents reflects how a growing consumer base attracts both legitimate businesses and predatory sellers - requiring community education to keep families safe.

"You need to make your own community - it's not going to find you."

"We just want them safer than they arrived."

"It's so easy to make a simple mistake when you're doing things quickly."

"The right car seat is the one you can install correctly every time."

"We do dangerous things safely."

"That relief in their eyes... that's the best part of the job."

"This is something you can do right as a parent."

"We're not here to judge - we're here to help."

How Lehi's newcomers create connection through groups, nonprofits, and local businesses.

From baby-wearing groups to car seat checks - the informal services Lehi parents rely on.

Primary Children's Hospital, specialized services, and the shift from Salt Lake dependency.

Small business owners who turn personal passion into community infrastructure.

How Lehi's Main Street shops, boutiques, and services adapted or closed during the pandemic.

Car seat safety, health education, and the professionals working to protect Lehi families.

Complete archival transcript of the interview, organized by chapter for readability. This record preserves the oral history of Charlene Freestone for future researchers, students, and residents interested in Lehi's community-building and family safety heritage.

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This oral history interview is part of the Roots & Branches of Lehi community archive.

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