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How You Can Help:
Registry Can LinkResponders and Next of Kin
By
LindaWuestenberg
MyEmergencyContactInfo.org
Being a First Responder places you first on scene when people have been injured. Unfortunately your job sometimes includes notifying family members that their loved ones have been the victim of fire or an accident. I know from personal experience that it can sometimes take law enforcement several hours to find loved ones – not because they were neglectful, but because they didn’t have the means available to locate them.
I am writing this article because I need your help. I want you to reach out to everyone in your community to let them know about Ohio House Bill 392, the Next of Kin Bill. Ohio is the first state in the U.S. to create a law that allows anyone with an Ohio driver’s license or state ID to voluntarily provide emergency contact information ,via a secure link on the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicle (BMV) website. Anyone can easily access this link via our website at www.myemergencycontactinfo.org
Often you are the first responders to an accident. At times the only information you have to find family members of a victim is the address on the victim’s driver’slicense. What if no one is at the address on the license? What happens if the victim can’t speak? How can you find the family?
This is how House Bill 392 came about:
On February 11, 2007 my son, Steve Burge, was on his way home. His drive included quite a few curves as he lived in a rural area. About a mile from home, he missed a curve, overcorrected and lost control of his vehicle. His light truck overturned several times. Not wearing his seatbelt, Steve was ejected through the sunroof.
EMS and police were on the scene quickly. Steve was flown to Ohio State University Medical Center within 40 minutes of the accident. The police then set out to find me.
Steve lived by himself, so when law enforcement knocked on his door, no one was home. They found a wedding invitation in his car and called the people listed on the wedding invitation. Those people knew me but did not know how to find me. The policelooked up past address records and went to those addresses. They knocked on neighbors’ doors to find someone who knew how to find Steve’s family.
Finally, about 8:00 a.m., six hours after the accident, they found a neighbor who had a key to Steve’s house. She found Steve’s cell phone on the kitchen counter and dialed the last called number, which connected her to one of Steve’s co-workers. The co-worker called their mutual boss. The boss then drove to the workplace to find the emergency contact information in Steve’semployment records.
I got the phone call seven and a half hours later that my son was critically injured. Sevenand one half hours after the accident, my son died from his injuries.
My sister, who also lost a son and a grandson in separate accidents, joined forces with me, to do something to help law enforcement locate families more quickly. In August 2007 we began working with the Ohio BMVto create a tool that would allow Ohio citizens to voluntarily provide two sources of emergency contact information that could be accessed by law enforcement in case of an accident. We began working with OhioHouse Representative Jim McGregor in September 2008 to create a law that would support this effort.
Governor Strickland signed House Bill 392, the Next of Kin Bill, into law on May 1, 2008. Ohio BMV made the resource available to every licensed driver or state ID holder in September 2008.
Wehelped draft and pass state legislation. We found a way to make a difference. Now it’s YOUR turn. The Next of Kin Bill is only effective if people know about it and use it. You can share this message with your family, friends, coworkers and your community.
Citizens can go on line at our websites, www.myemergencycontactinfo.orgor www.ohiobmw.com to securely enter two sources of emergency contact information and three phone numbers for each contact. Forms can also be completed at any Ohio Deputy Registrar location throughout Ohio.
AsFirst Responders on scene, you can retrieve an injured person’s emergency contact information from your dispatcher, or it can be requested by police officers. Even if you don’t have the victim’s driver’s license, but have a name, the information can be retrieved. But this will only work if our citizens know about the Ohio Next of Kin Database and why it’s important for them to provide their emergency contact information.
We have formed a nonprofit organization, ParentGrief, and an educational awareness program called MyEmergencyContactInfo. Oursole mission is make sure Ohioans know about the Next of Kin database. We simply cannot do this without the help of individuals and organizations like yours.
We have taken our grief and channeled it into a potentially lifesaving , peace of mind, free service that will help unite families in an emergency. We don’t want other families to have to wait hours to get to the side of their loved ones after an accident. This labor of love honors the lives and memories our children, Steve Burge, Mel Heckert and Drake Heckert.
We have resources available to help you spread the word in your community. For more detail, please go to our website at www.myemergencycontactinfo.orgor e mail us. Thank you for your support.
Linda Wuestenberg linda@parentgrief.org
LuAnn Grover luann@parentgrief.org