In the newest of celeb sightings with SafetyMate, Victoria Recaño and her husband Tom Burwell were gifted SafetyMate for the New Parent at their recent baby shower. The party was hosted by Hot Moms Club and Fit Pregnancy Magazine and held at the trendy Ketchup restaurant on Sunset Blvd. in LA.

What a beautiful couple! Best wishes in this new chapter in their life…

Super Mom Brooke Burke & SafetyMate: With Four Kids, Brooke has to be prepared for anything!

SafetyMate® for the New Parent, debuting in September 2008, already has been widely reviewed in print, on the internet and by celebrities, receiving positive accolades across the board in all mediums. Innovative in both concept and function, SafetyMate is a hand-held bilingual talking first aid device with information for over 30 first aid issues.

Pregnancy Magazine has selected SafetyMate as one of its “Go-Go Gadgets, Today’s innovations in baby safety (that) make it easy to keep it simple.” Recently, a picture of Alison Sweeney, her husband David Sanov and their son Ben graced the pages of Pregnancy showing Alison holding SafetyMate, given to her as a gift at her second baby shower.

On the internet, MetroMoms (www.metroplexbaby.com) selected SafetyMate as one of the “Best & Hottest Products From Pregnancy to Preschool™” “in the category of why didn’t anyone think of this sooner.” With the caution that you do not want to find yourself unprepared for a dangerous occurrence involving your child, Stay At Home Mom Answers (www.sahmanswers.com) finds SafetyMate to be an invaluable product for all parents.

Described as the perfect alternative to conventional baby shower gifts, SafetyMate’s review by Parent Click (www.orangecountyparent.com) states it is “an absolute must for new and seasoned parents!”

SafetyMate has won the Swanky Moms Award and been covered in video on Pregtastic.com and Mommywarriors.com. Other positive reviews include www.safbaby.com, www.lilaguide.com, www.momfuse.com, www.momstylenews.com, www.learning4lyf.ca and www.jetwithkids.com.

Finally, SafetyMate has been featured nationally on the Today Show, Univision, Fox & Friends on a number of local stations across the US by Lifestyle Expert, Tanya Whitford and by the Safety Mom, Alison Rhodes.

I have an idea…

Rather than make the same-old tired, played out, stale resolutions like “lose 10 pounds,” how about we all resolve to make children safer in their little tiny worlds.

There are so many ways to decrease their risk of injury, and I’ve covered that in previous blog posts. Now, how about knowing how to deal with an injury or medical condition BEFORE it happens!

I hear a lot of parents talk about allergies and allergic reactions.

Do you know what the signs and symptoms of what an allergic reaction looks, sounds or feels like?

• A skin rash is not the only sign of an allergic reaction.
• The membranes of the tongue, face or neck may swell and cause difficulty breathing.
• Other signs are redness, itching, nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, anxiety, dizziness or wheezing.
• The faster the reaction, the more severe it is.

Rule #1 - Seek medical attention for severe allergic reactions.

Do you know what to do if your child swallows something poisonous?

If you said, “make them throw up” you would be wrong.

• The Poison Control Center (800-222-1222) does not encourage parents to get their children to throw up if they have swallowed a poison.
• In fact, the standard is NOT to give anything by the mouth, as it may be harmful to the child.

Rule #2 - call the Poison Control Center if your child encounters a harmful substance or anything that may be poisonous.

Finally, who of you knows what to do in case of a burn?

Those of you who said “put butter on it. That’s what my mama always told me” are wrong. You over there who raised your hand and said “do NOT put any ointment or household products on a burn (unless a healthcare provider tells you to), and instead cool the burn with a continuous flow of cold water” would be exactly correct!

Rule #3 - do not rely on old wives’ tales.

I point out these three fairly common first aid issues because there are misconceptions flying about our society about how to treat injuries. 

Learn what is taught today as common treatment for injuries. Take a first aid class. Know when to seek professional medical advice. You may save your child’s life or you may just save yourself a visit to the emergency room.

Do everything you can to make your child’s world a little safer.

Now there’s a good New Year’s resolution.

Approximately one infant (12 months & under) suffers an unintentional injury every 1.5 minutes.

Causes of injury:

• FALLS - leading cause of injury; more likely to be male than female (~55% vs. ~ 45%)
• HEAD or NECK area: puncture injuries, bruises, foreign body injuries and abrasions most frequent
• FRACTURES: more than 1/3 of fractures were to the arm or hand
• The BED is the most common product as being involved in the injury in every age except:
• 2 months - the car seat became the most frequently noted product
• 12 months - the stairs because the top “product” involved in the injury

Social environment, physical environment and products change as infants grow through their first year of life.

Safety and awareness must continue to adapt as your infant grows. Actually, what’s cool about SafetyMate for the New Parent is it can grow with your family. Not only does it have information for infants, it also has information for children and adults.

Be prepared to know how to deal with these emergencies. We don’t often think of infants getting injured. They seem so passive, soft, sweet, and resilient. These stats make it evident accidents do happen. We all hope it won’t happen to us. Underneath that, we all kind of believe it won’t happen to us.

It could. I think that’s why gifting SafetyMate to a friend can help break through that denial we all have that it won’t happen to us. Once the SafetyMate is in hand, learning about what to do in case of a fall is simple. Just press a button. It becomes less scary and more manageable once you know what to do. Be ready. Learn how to handle first aid issues.

Best wishes for health and well-being in all your families.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission, together with the White House and other governmental agencies, such as the EPA, have designate October to be Children’s Health Month.

Parents are urged during the month of October to do a “safety check” where by an inventory is taken of environmental hazards in their home. Taking a few simple steps can help reduce or eliminate home-based non-intentional injuries and deaths.

Some of the most common home emergencies include burns, head injuries, accidental poisoning, strangulation, drowning, and suffocation.

A few ways to prevent such injuries:

• Keep medicines and hazardous household chemicals locked up and out of sight. Use child-resistant packaging for medicines and hazardous household chemicals, and call 1-800-222-1222 if a poisoning occurs.
• Cut the loops on window-blind cords.
• Turn pot handles on the stove towards the back where toddlers can not reach.
• Stay within arm’s reach of your baby while your child is bathing or near any container of water.
• Babies on adult beds risk suffocation from hidden hazards such as entrapment between the bed and wall; entrapment involving the bed frame, headboard and footboard; or soft bedding such as pillows or thick quilts and comforters. Co-sleeping side beds are becoming more popular as these risks become more well-publicized.

Always call 9-1-1 first in case of medical emergency.

For other potentially life-saving tips, go to www.healthierus.gov or www.childrenshealth.gov. Finally, know what to do if an emergency does happen. Take a class, remain vigilant of environmental hazards as your child continues to grow, and make sure any caregivers are trained in first aid/CPR.

So…you’re going out for your first night on the town after your baby is born. Lots of emotions vibrating through your body. Who do you leave your baby with? Is it a family member, a neighborhood teen, a good friend or an elderly woman who comes with recommendations…?

I guess the big question is - will it be a positive or negative experience for you, as a new parent?

A recent survey commissioned by iVillage.com found one out of four mothers questioned had a negative experience with a babysitter. Surprisingly, ten percent of the mothers reported mistreatment of their child by a babysitter.

Perhaps even more surprising to me is how willing many parents are to leave their child with someone who does not know how to deal with potentially life-threatening situations.

• A full one-third of mothers polled said they do not believe their babysitter knows how to help a child who is choking!
• Almost half of those polled do not believe the babysitter knows how to perform CPR.
• Over ten percent of mothers do not believe their babysitter can handle any medical emergency at all!!

With how fast we all know accidents happen and emergencies occur, these stats are shocking!

Babysitter training classes are available at local organizations such as American Heart Association and American Red Cross. Talking first aid devices such as SafetyMate for the New Parent can help teenagers or any caretakers refresh the information they learn in those classes in between annual trainings. www.safetymate.com/home/index.html

We all know if you don’t “use it,” you “lose it.” Unless you are a paramedic who is performing life-saving actions or CPR every day, there is no real way to become expert at dealing with crises.

Information is power. Learn, re-learn, practice, teach others…

As I noted in an earlier post, we have some exciting happenings!

After our debut on the TODAY show, it is now no secret that we are coming to market with a brand new solution to family first aid issues. SafetyMate for the New Parent is talking first aid for the home. The newest trend in essential safety gear for the modern mom and dad, SafetyMate allows parents the opportunity to refresh all the information they might have learned one time on-the-job or in an infant CPR class - at any time! Because SafetyMate is more interactive and engaging, with colored icons and blinking lights to guide the user, caretakers are much more likely to spend the time to refresh the information and to be prepared to deal with an emergency if the need arises.

Allison and I were recently at a trade show when a mother asked us how she was supposed to listen to the device over ”my own hysterical screaming.”

Interesting question.

My first thought was that in being afraid to even THINK about the issue that something might happen to your child is probably very normal and was, obviously for her, very anxiety provoking.

My own experience in being trained only once a year (while I was working in psychiatric hospitals) left me feeling vulnerable and afraid that I was supposed to know how to respond when actually I somehow felt LESS prepared than had I just remained totally ignorant. The diffusion of responsibility theory would absolutely be in play had I remained untrained.

However, now that I have been around this information and have listened to it numerous times, I have felt calm and totally capable of handling a situation. In fact, since I have been working with SafetyMate, I actually have responded on four separate occasions. In each case, I was able to not only remain calm myself, but have been able to keep others calm as well.

The point here is that preparedness does not increase anxiety, but allays it. The likelihood that a child is going to experience some emergency seems inescapable. The choice is to be prepared or to remain ignorant and perhaps when the time comes, to scream hysterically. Which would help your kid more?

CNN’s report on the tragic story of a five year-old kindergarten student in Marlborough, MA choking to death while on a bus ride to school was forwarded to me. 

The bus driver pulled over after being alerted of the emergency and called immediately for help. The child was reportedly choking on a foreign object. Since brain death begins to occur within four to six minutes of being deprived oxygen, EMS response time is critical. But really what is more critical is whether bus drivers, as the only adults present in this type of scenario, are trained in First Aid/CPR. School bus drivers across the nation are entrusted with the safety of our children.  Any adult who has the responsibility for caring for a child - be it for 20 minutes or for 6 hours - needs to be adequately trained in first aid/CPR and needs to be constantly refreshed on that information. Practice decreases panic. Accidents do happen. Adults need to be prepared to take care of the children in their care.

National Safety Council has recently announced an alliance with Southwest Airlines. Plans to train SW Airlines ground crew in First Aid/CPR/AED use has expanded to include training their airline’s Flight Attendants as well. Apparently Flight Attendant training is not required, which I have to ask as a more and more frequent passenger on airplanes, who is required or capable of taking care of someone who has a medical emergency while in flight? Is this a well-known fact? Is the best option: “Is there a doctor or nurse on board?”

A scenario occurred a few months ago while Allison and I were traveling to Vegas for yet another trade show. We happened to speak to our flight’s pilot prior to getting on board and he asked us about our business. We explained about our Emergency Instruction Refresher and made the comment that perhaps his airline would benefit from such a tool. He agreed and took our cards.

A few minutes later when we were ready to taxi-back, we heard that eerily familiar “Is there a doctor or nurse on board?” After asking three times, no one responded. The pilot came out of the cockpit, looked to us and asked if we had the SafetyMate. Allison shook her head “no,” pointed at MY head and said “No, but she wrote it so she knows it!”

I went to the middle of the plane where a woman was in the middle of having an epileptic seizure. No one knew what to do. One of the flight attendants was standing over her with a cup of orange juice. We got a folded blanket and put it under her head to protect it from hitting the armrest. We covered her body with a blanket in case she lost control of her bladder or bowels. Everyone was frightened and thankful we hadn’t taken off yet. Despite the fact that we were still sitting at the gate, the sheriffs did not get on board for ten or eleven minutes. Once they assessed the situation, they left and another 10 minutes passed before the medics arrived.

I was able to offer the medics information about the woman- that she did not have any medical jewelry on, that she had no medications in her bag, that the first seizure had lasted about five minutes and that she had started a second seizure.

She was taken off the plane and I hope is healthy today. This event was quite disturbing to both me and Allison as we pondered what would have happened had it been just a few minutes later - once we were in the air.

I certainly thought that Flight Attendants were trained in some way, shape or form. While I applaud SW Airlines on their step forward, I have to question why all airlines are not taking the same step.

SafetyMate continues to grow and expand its presence the Safety market. It has been such fun to develop an innovative product for which no current product category existed. In the past year or so, people in the industry now know about SafetyMate and  ”Emergency Information Refresher Devices.” As we continue to develop our product offerings, we will become better known among consumers in the retail market. I can’t wait to unveil what we’ve been working on!!! Stay tuned…