WHALE Makes it Easier for Monmouth County Children to Access Emergency Care After Accident
Emergency crews responding to a Monmouth County car accident involving a child passenger will now have access to all essential medical details of the child The Sheriff's office is putting into action a new program that will make children's health information available to emergency crews in the event of a crash.
The We Have a Little Emergency or WHALE program was initiated out of Virginia caregiver Connie Day's concerns about what would happen to the children in her care in the event of an accident. Every year, thousands of children are involved in car accidents when they are traveling with parents, grandparents, caregivers and other adults. Children are easily the most traumatized in the immediate aftermath of an accident. Even if the child suffers from minor injuries, it may not be possible for him or her to disclose important medical information to the emergency rescue teams who arrive at the scene. An unconscious adult inside the car and a terrified, screaming child hinders rescue efforts, leading to wastage of precious time. When the rescue personnel have access to the child's important information, including name of the child, contact information as well as important medical information like blood group etc., it makes their job much easier, and they can contact the family of the child, as quickly as possible.
The information, according to the program, will be contained in five decals, one on the back of the child's safety seat and four elsewhere in the car where they can easily be found by rescue teams. The WHALE program is one of those simple, yet highly effective programs that don’t cost much, and can pay off richly in terms of making it easier for a child to receive medical treatment after a crash.
New Jersey Personal Injury Lawyers
In these days of budget deficits and slashed funding for important auto safety programs, it's nice to see Monmouth County make additional efforts for the safety of its most vulnerable and precious citizens - the children. The County is paying for the decal program with funds from its existing child safety seat programs, and some additional funding from the CentraState Medical Center of Freehold Township. In my practice as a Monmouth. Bergen, Passaic, Middlesex, County personal injury lawyer, I have often seen the effects of an accident on little children, and anything that makes those terrifying few hours easier on the child, is worth making an extra effort for.
