The W.H.A.L.E Project is designed to help protect children in car seats if an accident occurs by providing identification and guardian information for them.   In the event of an accident that incapacitates the adults in the vehicle, WHALE provides first responders a means to identify the child in the car seat, as well as who should care for the child if the parents are not able to.   The WHALE sticker that goes on the back of the child seat is shown below:
W.H.A.L.E.™ stands for “We Have A Little Emergency.” This car seat safety program was developed by Connie Day, a caregiver from Virginia. In the event of an automobile accident that incapacitates the adult driver and passengers, rescue personnel will have a difficult time identifying children riding in car safety seats. In some situations, these adults may not be related to the child passenger; therefore, conventional means of obtaining information will be useless. In these cases, W.H.A.L.E.™ can make a significant difference.
 
W.H.A.L.E was brought to Nebraska by Geneva Rotarian Jill Schmitt, whose brother died in a serious auto accident.  His wife was incapacitated, leaving their 1 and 3 year children in the back seat to go into state care since the first responders couldn't identify who should have care of the kids.  It took Jill several days to get her niece and nephew into her care and she vowed she would never let that happen to any other family if she could help it.  She found the W.H.A.L.E program and brought it to Geneva.
 
The W.H.A.L.E program places a sticker on the back of a child seat with information about the child and guardian information for them.  A back of seat sticker is shown below:
 
 
W.H.A.L.E check marks are placed on both sides of the child seat and both back windows.   The check mark sticker and and example of placement is shown below:
 
 
If an accident occurs the first responders are trained to know that if they see the W.H.A.L.E check mark, they'll have information about the child in the seat.  At the 2017 District Conference, Fire Engineer Mike Davenport talked about a major accident that occurred on I-80 that W.H.A.L.E stickers would have really helped with....and this was just example.  Mike told us that even the simple act of being able to use the child's name helps the first responders take care of the kids in an accident if the adults are incapacitated or unable to help. 
 
We made the decision to bring W.H.A.L.E to eastern Nebraska as part of the 2017 District Conference.  What we have done is:
 
  • Purchase the first 5,000 W.H.A.L.E kits for distribution
  • Engage the first responders in Omaha and Council Bluffs with the program
  • Started building a distribution network for the stickers by partnering with Child Saving Institute
This is just the beginning of what needs to be done and we need your help to really make the impact that we can out of this project.  What can you or your club do?
 
Help purchase more W.H.A.L.E kits.  We have sourced our kits from Colorfully Yours.  Here is a link to their website and the order form for W.H.A.L.E kits.  We ordered 5,000 kits (they call them programs) for .35 each.  We choose to assemble the kits into envelopes ourselves to hold the cost down.  We purchased envelopes from Amazon and stuff them ourselves...this allowed us to get almost three times as many kits as we would have if they had sent them to us pre-packaged.  The image below shows what goes into a W.H.A.L.E kit:
 
Engage First Responders.   The program only works if the first responders in your area are aware of it.  If you are outside the Omaha/Council Bluffs area, you'll need to talk to the first responders in your area to engage them with the program.  In this DropBox link, you'll find a flyer that can be given to first responders to inform them about the program.  
 
Distribution Channel.  Lastly, you need partners to distribute the W.H.A.L.E kits.   Hospitals, Day Care centers, any organization that deals with children in child or booster seats are a target.  
 
If you have any questions about getting started-or if you'd like some of the initial kits (if any are still available), please contact  Gary Bren (gbren@brenonline.com, 402.981.8476)