National Child Vehicular Heatstroke Awareness and Prevention Day is April 26

NEWS RELEASE
KidsAndCars.org
 
5 Children Have Already Died in 2017, KidsAndCars.org Reports

April 25, 2017 - In announcing the first National Child Vehicular Heatstroke Awareness and Prevention Day for 2017, on  Wednesday, April 26th, KidsAndCars.org points out that heatstroke deaths are not rare, isolated tragedies. 
On average, once every nine days an innocent child dies of heatstroke in a vehicle. It is of paramount importance that  we work together to continue to raise awareness and prevent these deaths.

Already this year five children have died from heatstroke inside vehicles, and summer is still two months away:

• A boy, 1, died Feb. 6 in Pinecrest, Florida
• A boy, 2, died Feb. 28 in Brandon, Florida
• A girl, 3, died March 28 in Ville Platte, Louisiana
• A boy, 1, died April 4 in Vestavia, Alabama
• A boy, 23 months, died April 14 in Burleson, Texas

Since 1990, almost 800 children have died in these preventable tragedies. An average of 37 children die needlessly  every year from vehicular heatstroke. In 2016 a total of 39 children died.  One of the biggest challenges; nobody thinks  this could ever happen to them.

"If you're a parent or caregiver, ask yourself, 'What steps can I take to make sure our child is never left behind,'"  says Janette Fennell, founder and president of KidsAndCars.org, the leading national nonprofit child safety organization  working solely to prevent injuries and deaths of children in and around motor vehicles.

Safety steps include:

• Put something in the back seat so you have to open the back door when leaving the vehicle - cellphone, employee badge, handbag, left shoe, etc.
• Every time you park your vehicle open the back door to make sure no one has been left behind. "Look Before You Lock."
• Ask your childcare provider or babysitter to call you within 10 minutes if your child hasn't arrived on time.
• Keep a stuffed animal in your child's car seat and move it to the front seat to remind you when your baby is in the back seat.
• Focus on driving and avoid cellphone calls and any other distractions while driving.

The public can also help. KidsAndCars.org encourages individuals to take immediate action if they see a child alone in  a vehicle. "Call 911, and try to find the driver. But if the child is in imminent danger, it may be necessary to break the  window furthest away from the child to rescue them," stressed Fennell. The organization offers a small tool  called resqme™, an all-in-one window breaker and seatbelt cutter that fits on a keychain. To break the glass, simply
tap the spring-loaded device on the corner of a car window. ( http://www.kidsandcars.org/resqme-tool/)
 
Using the hashtags #heatstrokekills and #lookbeforeyoulock, KidsAndCars.org will post facts and safety tips throughout  the day about ways to prevent child vehicular heatstroke. The group is also calling on the public and media outlets to  use these hashtags to share information on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms. Photos, graphics and posts to
share are available at http://www.kidsandcars.org/heatstroke-day.html.

"We believe education along with technology solutions, such as systems to warn when a child is left behind,  are the most effective way to prevent these tragedies," Fennell added. To educate new parents, the organization has  distributed more than 750,000 safety information cards to birthing hospitals nationwide through its  "Look Before You Lock" educational campaign, the first program of its kind.

For additional information, statistics and charts on child vehicular heat stroke visit:
http://www.kidsandcars.org/heatstroke-day.html.

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About KidsAndCars.org :  Founded in 1996, KidsAndCars.org is the only national nonprofit child safety organization dedicated solely to preventing injuries and deaths of children in and around vehicles. KidAndCars.org promotes awareness among parents, caregivers and the general public about the dangers to children, including backover and frontover incidents, and heat stroke from being unknowingly left in a vehicle. The organization works to prevent tragedies through data collection, education and public awareness, policy change and survivor advocacy.

Are You Going to Vote?

I told my husband Larry I wouldn't listen to any complaints about who won the 1992 election if he didn't vote. He did vote that year – and always after that, including in many primaries.

This year a lot of people don't like any of the candidates, and may use that as an excuse not to vote. Here's what American poet Ogden Nash had to say about people like that:

“Election Day Is a Holiday”

People on whom I do not bother to dote
Are people who do not bother to vote
Heaven forbid that they should ever be exempt
From contumely, obloquy, and various kinds of contempt...

They have such refined and delicate palates
That they can discover no one worthy of their ballots,
And then when someone terrible gets elected
They say There, that’s just what I expected!...

And they have discovered that if you don’t take time out to go to the polls
You can manage very nicely to get through thirty-six holes.
Oh let us cover these clever people very conspicuously with loathing,
For they are un-citizens in citizens’ clothing.

They attempt to justify their negligence
On the ground that no candidate appeals to people of their intelligence,
But I am quite sure that if Abraham Lincoln (Rep.) ran against Thomas Jefferson (Dem.),
Neither man would be appealing enough to squeeze a vote out of them.

By Ogden Nash, from The Pocket Book of Ogden Nash, 1962

Do you support our veterans and our military? Prove it. Honor the freedoms so many fought and died for. Register to vote. Then VOTE!

How We Can Protect Children From Dying in Hot Cars

TIME magazine editorial - July 29, 2016

Janette Fennell @searcherchic

Fennell is president of KidsAndCars.org.

Caregivers should plan for forgetfulness and car companies must implement safeguards

Right now, somewhere in the United States, a family is going about their daily lives unaware that by year’s end their child will die in a hot car. They will suffer the same loss that has already consumed 23 families in guilt and grief this year. That includes four this past weekend in Florida, Pennsylvania, Missouri and Texas. On average, 37 children die this way annually in the United States—meaning that at this pace, another 14 more American families will experience this tragedy this year.

When a child becomes trapped in a hot vehicle, it takes only minutes for their core body temperature to rise to 105 degrees. They quickly begin to shut down. It’s often a parent who returns to the childcare facility at the end of the day and is told that their child was never dropped off that morning. No one can imagine the horror when they race back to their vehicle and discover the lifeless body of their child.
It is all too easy for a loving, doting caregiver to inadvertently leave a child behind. Their minds are fatigued and stressed. And because of a catastrophic but common failure, the brain’s “habit” memory overrides the “prospective” memory. They innocently forget.

Since 1990, at least 775 children have died of vehicular heat stroke, according to KidsAndCars.org’s tracking of these incidents. Even though we know that solutions exist to prevent these deaths, making this loss of lives even more tragic.

One solution is education. Parents and caregivers must know about how an overtaxed brain can fail. And childcare providers need to call—and not just leave a message—if the child does not show up at daycare as expected. Most important, drivers must get in the habit of checking the backseat every time they arrive at their destination: “Look before you lock.” One way to do this is to put their cellphone, handbag or employee badge in the back seat with the child to ensure they always open the back door when they arrive at their destination.

In other cases, a child climbs into a vehicle to play and is overcome by heat, becoming disoriented and thus unable to get out. To stop this from happening, we must always lock vacated vehicles when parked. Keys should be kept out of the reach of children. And if a child goes missing, vehicles and car trunks should be checked immediately.

But education is not enough. We cannot educate every single parent, grandparent, babysitter and caregiver in the country. And most parents don’t believe that the worst mistake a parent can make could happen to them. But blaming them only deepens the heart-rending impact of these incidents for families who are already overwhelmed by guilt and grief. To err is to be human.

It’s essential, then, that we also rethink how vehicles protect us. An unintended consequence of parents moving child car-seats to the backseat to prevent airbag deaths is that children are now out of sight. They then become out of mind. This puts them at risk.

For over a decade, advocates have informed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about these deaths and the technology that could help prevent such tragic deaths. Though NHTSA was tasked with studying available and potential technology to prevent child vehicular heat stroke, they are not working toward a solution.

Countless inventors have stepped up offering remedies. Our vehicles remind us to buckle our seat belts, turn off the headlights and take our keys with us. Though while that proves that auto manufacturers realize humans need reminders, those companies have not implemented a sensor and alert system to protect the most precious passengers—our children.

This year, one manufacturer, GMC, finally stepped up and included a reminder system in one of their 2017 models. Just one vehicle, the Acadia, in the entire United States being sold will have a reminder system.

When we learn about the possibility of tainted peanut butter, store shelves are emptied immediately. Bad hamburger is immediately recalled. As are faulty kids toys. Yet, we shamefully remain complacent about the children who continue to die for something utterly preventable. For the sake of the children and their families, we must change. Car companies must change in order to protect their passengers. And until they do, parents and caregivers must be made aware of what we all can do.

http://time.com/4426552/child-deaths-hot-cars/

Why Not Require a Second Amendment ID?

Kris Kobach, Kansas secretary of state, has disenfranchised 17,000 voters who didn’t produce their birth certificates. By Election Day Nov. 8 he hopes to disenfranchise as many as 50,000 voters.

Kobach and other Republicans demand that we show our birth certificate and get a voter ID as proof we’re American citizens with a constitutional right to vote.

So when are Republicans going to demand that we show our birth certificate and get a Second Amendment ID as proof we’re American citizens with a constitutional right to buy a gun?

Bullets or ballots?

Surely at least as much documentation should be required to get access to a military-style semi-automatic rifle as to get access to a ballot.

Susan Pepperdine

Fairway

Published in The Kansas City Star, July 21, 2016

Larry Marks 74th Birthday on Nov. 21

   
Larry is an amazing survival story, but it hasn't been easy. When he was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer 8 1/2 years ago, the outlook was bleak. In 2007, not long after his diagnosis, my Uncle Dorwin asked him what he wanted for his 66th birthday. He replied, "More birthdays."

Larry continues to have a lot of bone pain, often at a level of 6 to 7 out of 10. He had a pain pump installed, which has helped some with the pain in his right leg and hip. He's also had radiation on his leg and on his left elbow, where the worst pain is now.

Last week Larry’s daughter Kim and granddaughter Jamie (visiting from Florida) took him to Kansas University Hospital to get his pain pump refilled. (I stayed home while the plumber fixed a sewer backup.) When Larry returned home, he fell in the garage. We called 911, and they took him to SM hospital, where a CT scan and X-ray showed no brain bleed or fractures. He had scrapes and bruises and of course intensified pain, but was able to come home that evening.

We have signed up for palliative care, and also had Life Alert installed.


We appreciate all the love, support and positive thoughts being sent our way.

In 2007, just after his diagnosis, we got a picture of four generations of Pepperdines: Larry with great-granddaughter Alanna (now 8 1/2), daughter Kim, Susan, granddaughter Jamie and great-grandson Logan (now nearly 12).

Published in the Central Exchange newsletter, July 21, 2015 Kudos to Susan Pepperdine and family for her father's induction into the National Agricultural Hall of Fame!

Susan Pepperdine was elected in 2014 to a three-year term on the board of the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame in Bonner Springs, Kansas.  On July 11 her late father, Forrest Selby (who passed away in 1970), was inducted into the National Agricultural Hall of Fame. He was a farm implement dealer in Quincy, Illinois. At one time, he had the largest individual International Harvester dealership in the United States.

Susan Pepperdine Forrest Selby

Kansas vs. the Koch Brothers

My letter was published in The Kansas City Star on Feb. 3, 2015: Consider these Kansas budget numbers: $278 million – The 2014 budget shortfall after Gov. Brownback cut income taxes on top earners and certain  small businesses. $141 million – The cuts in highway funds ($100 million) and public employee pensions ($41 million) to help  plug the deficit. $1 billion – Amount that revenue is expected to fall short in 2015. Compare those figures to these for the Koch brothers: $80 billion – The estimated net worth of Charles and David Koch ($40 billion each) – 13 times the 2014  Kansas budget of $5.9 billion. $900 million – The amount the Koch brothers plan to spend in the 2016 election to help elect politicians who  will further lower their taxes and weaken environmental and workplace regulations. Unknown – How many millions they're saving in Kansas income taxes. What we do know is the crippling budget shortfall in Kansas amounts to only about 30 percent of what  the Koch brothers plan to spend to buy the next election. It seems the only thing the Koch brothers can't buy is our respect. If only they would pattern themselves after Ewing Kauffman (“Let KC have baseball!”) instead of Marie Antoinette (“Let them eat cake!”).