![]() ![]() "Not all hospitals have a uniform policy on how to work with families in this situation," said Atkinson."Īpproximately 2,000 children per year in the U.S. "The University of Michigan Hospital did a great job of training us in the hospital room," said Gratsch, "but they didn't follow us out to the parking lot and when we got there it felt like it was all new, like we were seeing it for the first time," he said, admitting it was stressful and frustrating. ![]() Fortunately the hospital provided the family with information on how to install and use their existing car seat to its full advantage. Gratsch's daughter Haley, now 7, was put in full-body casts twice, at eight months and again at five years old, to correct a displastic hip. Paul Gratsch, associate controller in the Business Office at Kettering, was on hand during some of the crash testing. "The dolls used in the 1980s did not have diagnostic instrumentation," said Atkinson, "and technology has improved dramatically in terms of analysis capabilities and how car seats are designed. Similar testing was done in the 1980s, but was conducted using dolls instead of crash dummies.Ītkinson and Zielinski put full-body casts on infant and child-sized crash test dummies that have diagnostic instrumentation that indicates potential and probable injuries. ![]() "We are testing all the scenarios in the Kettering Crash Safety Center," Atkinson said, "using 20 different crash tests including front and side impact and varying sizes and models of car seats." The testing is currently one-of-a kind. "Parents are already apprehensive about their child's welfare because of the casting and or surgery," said Atkinson, "this transportation problem just adds to their stress." This added stress can last between four weeks to six months, depending on the nature of the orthopedic condition and rate of healing and the number of doctor's visits required. "Some parents ride home with the child in the arms of one of the parents or they lay the child in the back seat and use the adult seat belts to hold the child in case of accident, and some try to get them in the car seat using the car seat in ways it wasn't designed to be used," he added. "It makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to put a child in a car seat when they are in a full-body cast," said Atkinson. orthopedic surgery resident at McLaren Regional Medical Center, are researching the safest way to transport children immobilized in full-body casts.Ītkinson and Zielinski came up with the idea to study the implications of transporting a child immobilized by a cast in a child safety restraint after both heard anecdotal information about how parents dealt with the problem of transporting children after orthopedic procedures to correct hip dysplasia or dislocation, broken limbs and other conditions related to the lower extremities. Patrick Atkinson, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Dr. MaHEERF Institutional Portion Quarterly ReportĮngineering a "cure" for a potentially dangerous situation, Dr.DecemHEERF Institutional Portion Quarterly Report.SeptemHEERF Institutional Portion Quarterly Report.JHEERF Institutional Portion Quarterly Report.DecemHEERF Student Aid Quarterly Report. ![]()
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