Remembering Baby Emma: Two Crash Safety Experts Launch a National Web Site to Help Families Cope with Loss After a Motor Vehicle Crash, Wednesday, Feb. 15 at Kettering University
FLINT, Mich., Feb. 14, 2006 -- Dr. Patrick and Dr. Theresa Atkinson, both mechanical engineers and experts in crash safety, were more educated than most about the risks and statistics related to automobile accidents in the United States. What they weren't aware of, or prepared for, were the aftereffects of a crash.
The Atkinson family of four was hit Feb. 22, 2003, when an out-of-control vehicle crossed a snowy median in Michigan. The broadside impact on the driver's side crushed their minivan, killing Emma Atkinson, then nearly seven months old, who was seated in the area of the vehicle that sustained the greatest damage.
In the weeks and months following the accident, Pat and Theresa became more and more frustrated with the lack of resources for crash survivors and the families of crash victims. Focusing their attention and expertise on this, the Atkinsons have developed the Crash Survivor's Network (CSNetwork), a combination of information targeted at preventing injuries and offering support services to help people after a crash.
The CSNetwork web site will officially launch Wednesday, Feb. 15, at Kettering University in Flint, Mich., as part of National Child Passenger Safety Week, Feb. 13 through 17.
"One of the reasons we started the Crash Survivor's Network," said Theresa, director of the CSNetwork board, "is to give people some sense of what to expect that first year after the crash."
The most visible part of the CSNetwork, a non-profit group, is the web site at http://www.crashsurvivorsnetwork.org/ . The site contains information on grief, post traumatic stress, economic issues, disability, vehicle safety and occupant protection. It is accessible to persons who might need to use assistive technology to surf the web due to a disability. The group plans to take information from the web and produce it in brochure form and print versions for hospitals and funeral homes to distribute to people who may not have access to the Internet. "That is our main thrust on the post-crash side," she said.
For more on the Atkinsons and the CSNetwork, go to: http://www.kettering.edu/news .
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