What is ERASE?

Each year ERASE has organized hundreds of volunteers to bag tons, and tons of road salt for distribution to the elderly in the community, to not only prevent falls, but to raise awareness of this yearly health issue. The media coverage of this event has been substantial. To date ERASE has, by hand, bagged nearly 80 tons of salt, and distributed over 55,000 bags. Besides the Salt Project, ERASE has a large yearly education campaign for new parents to teach them basic childhood first aid and CPR. They set up a forum where they can sit with Emergency Physicians, paramedics, pharmacists, ER nurses, and social workers and ask hundreds of questions about childcare, home safety, injury prevention etc. The attendance at these events is amazing.

Some of our accomplishments include:

• ERASE has distributed tens of thousands of safety stickers, around Halloween time to improve the visibility of trick-or-treaters to oncoming cars.

• ERASE has started the Children of Special Needs program to identify children of complex health problems to paramedics and health care providers in the community to better serve these patients during time of emergency.

• ERASE initiated the Debra Kinkade Nursing Scholarship to honor an Emergency Nurse in our community who died after a long bout of cancer.
  
  Debra was somewhat of a rebellious teenager who was mentored, through the court system by a nurse. She fell in love with patient care, turned her life around and became one of the all-time great, patient care advocates in their department. As the nursing shortage throughout the country has grown, and affected all communities, ERASE felt they could honor Debra by identifying nursing students, who demonstrate financial need, and help them on their way to funding their nursing education. Lowe’s home improvement has allowed ERASE to sell daffodils (called Deb-o-Dills) in their stores and they graciously give ERASE the proceeds.

• ERASE initiated a matching defibrillator fund, by which an organization such as the local YMCA or JCCA wants to purchase a defibrillator; ERASE provides up to 50% of the funds as an incentive to get them going on the project. Already these defibrillators have saved lives.

• Dr. Gavin Inglis, an ERASE board member, started an amazing program by which he goes to local schools and gives presentations on basic health as it relates to the ER, anti-smoking and drug abuse education, and drunk-driving education. Gavin is a former film and stage performer, his appearances are met with great enthusiasm, and local educators hold him in the highest regards. He has a multimedia program for both grade school and high school aged participants.

• ER tech Patrick Blanford, who has recently returned from serving his country as an army reserve specialist, has set up an innovative program through ERASE. He actually brings classes of K-3rd grade students to the ER, introduces them to the field of Emergency Medicine, shows them the equipment, monitors, etc. The students get to splint, listen to their hearts on Doppler ultrasound, watch their rhythm on the monitors, etc. The goal is to diminish the fear of the ER and to make future visits less anxiety provoking. The program is booked solid for the year.