Blog: 2012

Did you know that heatstroke is the leading cause of non-crash, vehicle related deaths for children under the age of 14, with at least 33 fatalities reported in 2011 alone?  That is a sobering statistic.  With the hot summer just around the corner, the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced its first-ever national campaign to prevent child heatstroke deaths in cars, urging parents and caregivers to think "Where's baby? Look before you lock."

"This campaign is a call-to-action for parents and families, but also for everyone in every community that cares about the safety of children," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "It is hope that the simple tips from this campaign will save lives and help families avoid unnecessary heartache."

Data from the San Francisco State University Department of Geosciences report 33 children died last year due to heatstroke – medically termed "hyperthermia" – while there were at least 49 deaths in 2010. An unknown number of children are also injured each year due to heatstroke in hot cars, suffering ailments including permanent brain injury, blindness, and the loss of hearing, among others. Often heatstroke deaths and injuries occur after a child gets into an unlocked vehicle to play while unknown to the parent.

Here are some important tips to help prevent this tragedy from occurring:

• Never leave a child unattended in a vehicle – even if the windows are partially open or the engine is running and the air conditioning is on


• Make a habit of looking in the vehicle – front and back – before locking the door and walking away


• Ask the childcare provider to call if the child does not show up for care as expected


• Do things that serve as a reminder a child is in the vehicle, such as placing a purse or briefcase in the back seat to ensure no child is accidently left in the vehicle, writing a note or using a stuffed animal placed in the driver's view to indicate a child is in the car seat


• Teach children a vehicle is not a play area and store keys out of a child's reach

We are proud to say that the RealCare curriculum has a brand new lesson, Safe and Comfortable Temperatures and Clothing for Infants that teaches this very concept!  In this lesson participants learn about hypothermia and hyperthermia, and safety precautions related to exposing infants to extreme temperatures. They hear important information about the dangers of leaving an infant in a car, and an infant’s ability to adapt to environmental conditions.  Resources include an interactive slide presentation that simulates the rapid rise of temperature inside a vehicle in the hot sun!  Participants learn about how our new RealCare® Baby 3 tracks extreme temperature conditions and clothing changes during the simulation experience.  This new lesson content coupled with the enhanced heat sensing technology in Baby will provide a powerful learning experience that could save a life.

For more information, go to:

• NHTSA research on the issue of heatstroke/hyperthermia. (http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811116.PDF)


• Safety tips for parents and caregivers are available at www.safercar.gov/heatstroke.

Information in blog taken from: http://www.nhtsa.gov/About+NHTSA/Press+Releases/2012/NHTSA+Unveils+Campaign+to+Prevent+Child+Heatstroke+Deaths+in+Cars

Realityworks employees wore their “Realityworks Cares” orange shirts to help out our community during National Volunteer Week.  Employees volunteered at The Community Table in our headquarters city of Eau Claire, WI.  The Community Table serves over 100 meals a day, 365 days a year.  Our Realityworks team prepared, served and cleaned up after the meal. 

It is part of our company values to be socially responsible.  To fulfill part of these values, we have several events and materials drives throughout the year organized by our Charitable Giving Committee.  So far this year our employees have dedicated over 40 hours to serving the community and contributed to our non-perishable food drive and our March Madness Basketball Benefit. 

We are always looking for suggestions for material drives and would love to learn what you are doing to support your community!  Please share any charitable events your organization or school has done! 

I recently had the opportunity to watch the amazing video of a 9-year-old entrepreneur. The video was Caine’s Arcade. Have you seen it? If not, you need to spend the next 11 minutes watching it and getting inspired by this little guy. Click on the video link below!

This young, creative entrepreneur, Caine Monroy, spent a summer building an arcade in the front of his dad’s auto parts store. The games were made from cardboard boxes and tape. He even cut slits in the front of each game for tickets to dispense, and came up with a mathematical equation to determine how many turns someone had left on their 500-play ‘fun pass’. 

Watching this video made me start thinking about the characteristics of a 21^st Century student. They are surrounded by technology and demand quick ways to get answers by using it. They constantly need to be engaged or they will get bored. They are innovative thinkers, but will continually have to be challenged to advance those skills. 

It is obvious that this generation of students will be and must be advanced in technology; they are leaps and bounds ahead of past generations. But I think we often forget that this generation will have to possess progressive creative skills as well to keep up with the advancing technology. 

Caine has the characteristics of the 21^st Century learner, and his arcade is seeing the results of possessing those skills. He could not afford a claw machine, so he had to take some string and an “S” hook to build it. He added goalies in his soccer game to challenge his customers – he didn’t want the game to be too easy.

In order for Caine’s Arcade to succeed, Caine needed to be creative and innovative. It is great to see a 9-year-old boy already using the skills needed to succeed in life and his future career. Whatever shape Caine’s life and career take, we think he will be successful. 

 

We wanted to share the thoughts from our 2012 Realityworks & Go Beyond MCH Graduate Student Scholarship winner, Aimee Eden.

The Realityworks & Go Beyond MCH Graduate Student Scholarship has already provided me with significant career-building opportunities and academic growth. First, the opportunity to attend the AMCHP conference for the first time allowed me to meet family, local, state and national-level MCH leaders.

I gained professional and leadership skills during the workshops and learned about a variety of MCH initiatives and projects. Attending the conference expanded my academic and research experiences by giving me exposure to leaders in a diversity of settings.

I took the opportunity to learn more about advocacy and policy before and during the conference, and making a Hill visit to my Congressman was another great learning experience.

I’m amazed at all I did and learned, and the number of MCH leaders I met in just four days during the AMCHP conference. And I felt extremely welcomed and supported the entire time.

In addition, I am so thankful for the portion of the scholarship for educational expenses. It has helped me cover costs of completing my dissertation research and of disseminating my research by presenting at conferences that otherwise would have been unaffordable to me as a student.

Overall, the scholarship has opened many new doors for me, and I can’t wait to begin combining research and practice in my future leadership role in MCH.

Aimee Eden

To hear more, check out the video from AMCHP here:
A Conversation with Mike Fraser, Stephanie Birch and Aimee Eden