Booster Seats - Are They Old Enough or Tall Enough to Stop Using Them?

Beginning October 7th 2009, Ohio's new booster seat law requires all children 4-8 years old or up to 4 feet 9 inches tall to be in a booster seat. Most US states have passed similar laws...as have many other countries. (New boost to child safety seat laws by Mary Ann Greier http://tinyurl.com/nt5hjl )

In Britain, a child shorter than 135cm (4 feet 5 inches) will stay in a booster seat until they reach 12 years of age, and many European countries have set 1.5m (4 feet 11 inches) as the minimum height for transition from booster seat to adult safety belt. Australia will raise its age to 7 at the end of the year.

In NZ, the Paediatric Society believes youngsters should be kept in booster seats until they reach age 10 "to prevent horrific abdominal or neck injuries". The Plunket Society, another NZ organization believes height rather than age should be the determining factor. The subject is under heavy debate as there is a concern as to whether or not a minimum height requirement will be more difficult to enforce than age. (Call to give kids booster seats until 10 by Mathey Dearnaley http://tinyurl.com/m9fj7a )

What an interesting question this age vs height thing - however not just for the folks in New Zealand but for all of us because wherever you are, the laws are always changing and evolving. So what are our options??? Do we ask the 10 or 12 year old to ride to school in a booster seat because they are shorter than their school friends? One might argue against this in favor of their emotional well being. Or do we allow transition from a booster seat based on age, assuming the majority of a population will have reached a "safe" age by the time they are 8 or 9 years old. Or do we continue to make it an "either/or" decision, allowing the child to graduate to adulthood based on whichever milestone they reach first?

As a strong believer in child safety seats and one of the founders of ANSR for Kids (Ambulances Need Safety Regulations), I can tell you that this is not an easy question and I would not pretend to have the "right" answer. I can only say that I would not give a damn (excuse the language) about what is difficult to enforce - what matters is that they make the choice that's going to keep kids safe. And what I will share...and please believe me when I say I thought long and hard before I wrote this ...is what would be the right answer for me: I can always drop my child off down the block... I can always get my child therapy... but what I can never do is bring them back once they are gone. I choose height because I believe that will keep them safe.

What would you choose?

I Forgot the Names...By Jim Love

Years ago I worked with a medic- kind of a grumpy guy. Didn't seem to care much about - well about much of anything. He just came to work and did his thing and went home. Little did I know that behind the scenes he was building the momentum for legislation that would improve kid safety for- well forever.

Once upon a time the State of Florida, yes that one down south almost completely surrounded by water and with a reputation as a water vacation destination, did not require fencing around pools. As a result kids could wander into pools and you can guess the unfortunate outcome. This medic, with no kids of his own, no personal story of loss or tragedy just said enough is enough. His action caused legislation to occur in Florida that for more than two decades now has required fencing around pools saving countless lives.

Years later I met another medic from Alaska of all places. He too had seen too many river drownings and took personal action to prevent these in the future.

I wrote this because I want to say that action by one, and then two and then a hundred people does make a difference. They do work. They do save lives- its how MADD started. The acts and deeds live on beyond the memory of the person-sometimes beyond the life of the person who started it all.

There are still many needs, many opportunities. Getting proper child seats into emergency vehicles is one. There are still states that do not require fencing around swimming pools. You can make a difference by what you do. I don't recall their names- I'll never forget what they did.

The littlest victims of the recession

Times have not been easy. It's no surprise that many of us will leave this recession with more than a few "battle scars". But for the littlest ones, the ones who can't fight their own battles, the economic crisis has begun to take on a much more frightening tone as it threatens their health and in some cases even their lives.

According to CBS Early Show medical correspondent Dr Jennifer Ashton, nationwide 44% of children's hospitals are reporting increases in ER visits this year. At Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio - one of the larger children's hospitals in the country, traffic is up in the ER, even though the population of children in northeast Ohio is down.

Dr Edward Barksdale, chief of pediatric surgery, says the ER is busier than ever because people are waiting to seek care. Too many can't go to a doctor's office and end up coming to the ER instead, delaying care until its necessary. Then there are cases such as baby Hailey Sarubbi, born at 23 weeks and weighing little more than a pound who is struggling to survive because her mother went into premature labor after working seven days a week to make ends meet. And 17-year old Teauna Boysaw who didn't have health coverage when she came into the ER with an infected cyst...her mother, a nursing assistant, couldn't afford the $550 monthly fee to insure her children.

CBS News Interactive: Children In Danger

http://kdka.com/health/kids.health.care.2.1013257.html

Unfortunately, the sad reality is that our little ones are ending up in ER's across the country. Do we blame the parents who delay treatment until it is absoutely necessary because it is more important to put food on the table? Do we blame a system where one in nine children lacks health insurance coverage? Do we blame the doctors and nurses who keep the child waiting in the ER, sometimes for hours, because every day there are more and more to treat.

Or is there something simpler we should consider here. Perhaps rather than blame, we could look for a way to help ...a way to support...a way to cheer on every caregiver who is managing to not only survive these unbelievably awful times, but doing their very best to make life a little better for the child in their care - whether it's their own or someone elses. Maybe it's by relying on each other that we find the answers to the problems...for them...and for us. Perhaps its silly to look to a television show for any real meaning, but maybe the castaways on ABC's Lost were on to something when they said "live together, die alone". All I know is its up to us to make sure the littlest victims of the recession never become its casualties.

Saving a Baby...All in a Day's Work

On Thursday May 14th, Mathew Cook and Rafael Marrero, two medics working the graveyard shift in lower Manhattan saved a life. That alone was news to celebrate. What made it truly remarkable was that the life they saved was that of a baby girl born 5 months premature and weighing less than a pound.

The call they received at 7am that Thursday morning was for a woman, 36 years old and four months pregnant who was on her way to the hospital, in severe pain. While in the car things progressed from bad to worse...the dispatcher told the medics they were responding to a likely miscarriage. Upon arrival they proceeded to deliver the child with care. And although they thought it was too late, they wrapped the child in blankets, cut the umbilical cord and flicked an unbelievably tiny foot to stimulate breathing. The little girl let out one gasp and started to cry. ...and then, so did her mother.

As caretaker of this blog, and co-founder of a company whose goal is to make it safer for little kids to travel on ambulances, I am often critical of the slow adoption rates I see for new technology in this industry. But what I am never critical of is the job the men and women do everyday who put on an EMS uniform, go out in the field and save lives...because the results speak for themselves. EMS is an unbelievably demanding career. And like so many other individuals to whom we entrust the care and safe-keeping of our families, they are often underpaid and rarely recognized.

A friend of mine who spent many years in the industry, recently told me not to call them heroes. Apparently it wasn't the right use of the word because what he did wasn't especially heroic...it was just part of his job. Well maybe I was quiet then, but now I'd like to take a moment to disagree. When Mathew Cook said that "That was it. She just started to breathe, then starts to cry, it's a great feeling,"...I have to admit it...I was more than a little impressed. And maybe saving that baby's life was all in a day's work, but to me, it was 100% my kind of hero.

Oh...and before I forget ...welcome to the world little girl :)

(Original Story by Peter N. Spencer, Staten Island Advance

http://www.silive.com/news/advance/index.ssf?/base/news/1242648008280010.xml&coll=1)