VisibleKIDS BLOG

Redwood City CHP event focused on Child-Hyperthermia tragic trend

2011-08-01T12:58:00.000-07:00

Stacie Chan of Patch-local-news wrote a nice article and helped produce great video coverage on the CHP event in Redwood City on the 28th of July. Dave Bell joined Ben Arias (of Lucille Packard Childrens Hospital and Safe Kids) and CHP Officer Art Montiel to discuss the continuiing heat-related tragedies in vehicles across the U.S..

VizKID aims to prevent hot-car deaths

2011-06-25T20:10:00.000-07:00

Here is the full article:VizKID aims to prevent hot-car deaths
By Will Wright New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung | Posted: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 9:13 pm
NEW BRAUNFELS — Each year throughout the country, children are left in cars that are too hot or too cold, leaving grieving parents to wonder what they could’ve done to prevent what’s become an all too common tragedy.

During the summer, temperatures inside a vehicle can quickly exceed outside temperatures by 50 degrees in less than 45 minutes. That spells peril for children, whose body temperatures rise three to five times faster than adults.

VisibleKIDS, a California-based firm, has come out with a device that reminds parents — and other drivers — that kids are in the car. Called a VizKID, it resembles a smaller version of a blue parking cone, topped with a bright yellow sleepy-smiley face.

The 24-inch, 1 3/4-pound device is placed upright into the car’s passenger seat to signal a child is traveling in a car safety seat. When the child is removed, the driver lowers the VizKID from view.

“The VizKID was developed to help ensure the driver never forgets the child in back, while
making passersby aware that there really is a child in back, right now,” said inventor Dave Bell, who will be demonstrating their effectiveness from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at New Braunfels Farmers Market, on South Castell Street, next to Friesenhaus.

Joining Bell will be New Braunfels Police Department Cpl. Frank Moreno, McKenna Parenting Program and Child Passenger Safety Seat coordinator Kristen Fain, and Beth Warren of Safe Kids-Austin.

New Braunfels was the site of the first hot-car fatality this year in Texas, when an infant died after being left all day inside a vehicle in March.

“Don’t think, ‘It could never happen to me,’” Bell said. “We are all incredibly busy — sidetracked by cell phone conversations and rushing to make tight schedules. Any slight change in your daily pattern and you could easily walk away from your vehicle with the quiet, sleeping child in the back.

“If your spouse or nanny takes the child to daycare only one day a week, his/her driving routine could lead to such an oversight.”

VizKIDs are made of safe polyurethane foam, with a neoprene body cover that withstands the intense heat inside vehicles. They normally sell for $25, and product demonstrations are available online at www.visiblekids.com.

Bell introduced VizKIDs last summer at the Kidz-in-Motion Conference in Fort Worth. He plans to donate between 500 and 600 of the devices through NBPD and McKenna, and hopes to have them available at Christus Santa Rosa — New Braunfels’ birthing center beginning in July.

Jennifer Collier, McKenna’s Health and Education director, said her organization will offer free car seat safety checks to area parents, each conducted by certified technicians, with free VizKIDs going to those completing the inspections. Collier said McKenna will provide free car seats or booster seats for families who qualify.

“We want to help them get the word out on what these devices are and how they can help form new habits for new parents who put babies in the back of the car,” Collier said. “It ties in very nicely with the child safety program we’ve had for several years now.”

To schedule an appointment for a free safety inspection or inquire about eligibility for a free seat, community members can ask for Fain at (830) 606-9500.

VizKID aims to prevent hot-car deaths

2011-06-23T16:04:00.000-07:00

The Herald-Zeitung, a Southern Newspaper publication, located in New New Braunfels, Texas, helps to bring awareness to the dangers of leaving a child alone in hot cars with the article "VizKID aims to prevent hot-car deaths."

Come visit VisibleKIDS's Dave Bell, Bruce and Mary Wills, Kristen Fain (McKenna CPS), Frank Moreno (NB Police Dept), and Beth Warren (from Austin!)from 9am to 3pm at the fabulous NB Farm to Market in downtown to kick off the VizKID and "Don't Forget the Child in Back" awareness drive. VisibleKIDS will be donating one VizKID per family with children under 5 years old over the next few weeks.
If you're nearby, come see us!!!!

New Braunfels tragedy is quite similar to the July,2007 tragedy which initiated our VizKID project.

2011-03-16T12:06:00.000-07:00

This tragedy is very similar to the July, 2007 death in the San Francisco bay area that triggered the whole VizKID project. We just wanted to provide another tool for parents to utilize to help combat this crazily busy schedule we all have. The side benefit of the VizKID is that passersby also see a reason to stop by the vehicle, where they had NO reason to stop, before.
Bruce Wills and I (we invested together to create the VizKID), went to high school at Churchill in San Antonio, so this story cuts quite close for both of us.

Lifesavers Conference - Phoenix, AZ, March 26 to 28

2011-01-31T17:11:00.000-08:00

The VizKID's will be there. Come by our booth!

Recent VizKID write-up at InMenlo.com

2010-09-29T15:02:00.000-07:00

I had a very enjoyable conversation with Linda and Chris Gulker at Cafe Borrone, recently. They have an excellent daily/weekly blog covering Menlo Park and Atherton.

Highlights of Kidz-in-Motion Conference by the excellent writers of CarSeatBlog

2010-09-07T15:35:00.000-07:00

VisibleKIDS had an extremely productive visit and booth exhibit at the KIM Conference, held in Ft Worth, TX, on 8/26 and 8/27. You'll see a couple of paragraphs about the VizKID, half way down the summary. A mention is made of the original test (July'08) on 40 parents in which 50% made a habit of using the VizKID after one month (I wanted at least 20% at the time, knowing that the eventual product use would snowball as the symbol became known), and note that this was the prototype unit assembled of hard plastic off-the-shelf items, wrapped in blue athletic bandage (quite funny looking). I hope for nothing less than 100% success when drivers utilize the current VizKID!! (=:

Inside Bay Area - The Oakland Tribune

2010-07-28T13:39:00.000-07:00

Menlo Park man creates product to help parents remember children in the back seat - by Bonnie Eslinger

KCBS interview re: VizKID, aired 7/24/10

2010-07-26T23:36:00.000-07:00

Short and to the point.

Mercury News article on the VizKID-7/17

2010-07-17T07:41:00.000-07:00

VizKID's to be at Menlo Arts & Wine Festival

2010-07-15T21:52:00.000-07:00

I'll be showcasing and discussing the VizKID's in front of Cheeky Monkey Toys on Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 4pm. Come by and see me!
Dave

CNN reports "epidemic" level in 2010

2010-07-07T23:35:00.000-07:00

No one wants to sensationalize this. It's just a problem we all have to solve, NOW .

Ongoing statistics on Hyperthermia-related deaths in cars

2010-06-25T07:44:00.000-07:00

2010 News Gets Worse

2010-06-25T07:41:00.000-07:00

Yahoo/Parenting article responding to my Test Unit distributed in July, 2008

2010-06-16T11:45:00.000-07:00

When I was randomly handing out 40 test units in July, 2008, one of the mother's strolling by the Menlo Park farmer's market happened to be the editor of Yahoo-Parenting. She wrote about the test unit the following month. She even photographed the test unit on her living room floor. The key difference you'll see, other than the obvious final product being composed of soft and flexible polyurethane foam, is that the optic yellow head and sleepy smiling face are much more pronounced, adding to the outside visibility. The writer didn't touch on the fact that the VizKID now becomes the ONLY active symbol in the vehicle that conveys the idea, "there's a child in the back, Right Now."