Furniture Safety

Judy Lambert's Holiday Letter

Dear Friends,

Here we are again entering the season of lights, love, family and giving. But for those of us who have lost children, the holiday season seems almost cruel. It serves as a harsh reminder that our loved one is no longer with us to experience what is referred to as “the most wonderful time of the year.”

For those of us whose children are no longer here, it is the most difficult and saddest part of the year. For me, it begins in September with the start of school. The weather turns cooler, the leaves change, and fall and holiday decorations make their appearances a bit too early in local stores. As I experience this change in season, there is that constant ache in my heart that my Katie is not by my side to see the beauty of this transition. I can never watch as she excitedly begins a new school year. I will never know who her friends would be or what she would look like. Time moves forward, but as I sit with my family sharing our Christmas dinner, the chair where my precious daughter would be seated remains empty.

In 2005, my little girl was killed as she innocently played in her bedroom. Unbeknownst to us, lurking by her side in that special room was a killer – a killer which took the life of my then 3-year-old little girl. As she sat on the floor playing with her Buzz Lightyear doll, an accident occurred where the large, unsecured wardrobe cabinet that stood in that room tipped, fell and crushed my baby. All I heard was the deafening crash…all I saw was my daughter laying under broken pieces of glass and wood, her lifeless body still clutching her Buzz Lightyear toy.

No parent should ever have to experience the death of a child, especially one that could have been prevented. No one ever warned us that furniture could kill. No one told us that TVs and furniture should be properly secured to a wall. If someone did, perhaps my daughter would be with me experiencing the true excitement and happiness of the holiday season. Instead of wrapping her special gifts I will visit her grave and hang Christmas decorations on her stone. I will thank God for the three short years that he gave me with her and I will ask for the strength to not only get through another difficult holiday season but the rest of my life without my Katie. My heart aches that part of my soul is missing. I know that true joy and happiness can never be felt.

I truly wish you and your families a happy, healthy and safe holiday season. Take the time to hug your children, your loved ones and to be thankful that you can do so. My one true hope is that my daughter’s name will never be forgotten and other families will never have to suffer the intense pain that we do. Please help us to remember not only my Katie who lost her life to furniture tip-over, but all the other children whose lives were cut too short by this hidden hazard.

Thank you to everyone who has donated their time, products and money to our cause. Along with the 2^nd Annual Katie Elise Lambert Foundation Butterfly Release held this past summer at Jeanes Hospital, your kindness has done so much to let parents, grandparents, teachers and other important adults in our children’s lives know about this horrible danger.

If it isn’t too much to ask, I hope you will please consider a donation to the Katie Elise Lambert Foundation’s child safety organization so that we may continue to educate others on the dangers of unsecured furniture. All donations are tax deductible and would go towards raising awareness of this deadly killer. Education is the key in helping to save lives.

Please remember those who are no longer able to see, hear or hug our children and consider telling someone about The Katie Elise Lambert Foundation. Doing so may help save an innocent life.

Wishing you peace,

Judy Lambert
www.katieeliselambert.org
info@furnituresafety.org

Signs – Written by Judy Lambert

Do you believe in signs?  Signs that are sent from our angels and departed loved ones? I am a firm believer in "signs" if you are able to maintain an open mind and open heart. Trying to dig deeply into the meaning of little things or eagerly anticipating the presence of a lost loved one is almost like watching paint dry. It almost always just doesn't happen. But if one keeps his or her heart wide open than even the smallest occurrence can signify a strong presence.

When you are least expecting a "sign" at least for me that is, is when my Katie makes her presence felt. Let us talk about the rainbow. Exactly 3 months from the date of Katie’s death, my husband and I with our two boys were at the baseball field, FoxRok. Both boys had different games and B and I walking in-between the two fields so we could watch both boys play. All of a sudden, E shouted, a Rainbow!!! Far above our heads on that bright, sunny day, an inverted rainbow smiled down upon us. No clouds were in sight and rain was not in the forecast. So where did the rainbow come from? You may have your scientific explanations and logical answers....however I maintain my belief that it was my daughter letting us all know that she was okay. I shed many tears that wonderful evening; both tears of extreme grief and hopefulness. Missing my Katie from my core but allowing myself to believe that she was in this paradise called Heaven.

There are other little signs that allow me to feel my daughter's presence. A butterfly fluttering nearby, or the lights in our hallway turning themselves on. Her favorite toy plays at 2 in the morning, or the color of a text on the computer not changing from her favorite color, blue. There will be, a ladybug on my windshield, another butterfly asleep on our window or a bright twinkling star shining directly in our window. There have been many, many signs...and I have learned to not purposely go around looking or waiting for them. I accept that they will appear when I am not expecting them, in the smallest but most significant of ways.

Seeing those “signs” make my day and can turn a bad one into a hopeful and grateful day. I have accepted the fact that even though Katie’s physical presence is no longer with me I can find her spirit in so many beautiful things around me. This gives me the hope and strength to keep moving forward with my life and to carry her spirit within my heart.  I know that I meet my baby again in Heaven, but until then, her “signs” will be openly welcomed and received.
So to all of you who have lost loved ones.... please try to keep an open mind and open heart...do not go looking for the “signs”. Just accept even the smallest ones...and feel your loved one’s presence in your everyday occurrences.

Mother's Day - Written by Kim Packard

As young girls, we are conditioned to look forward to certain rites of passage.  The ‘sweet’ sixteen party, the prom, THE proposal, our wedding day and the day we become a mother. We’re seemingly programmed to pursue that amazing transformation from girl to woman and then from woman to mother.

Becoming a mother is such a powerful turning point in our lives.  Motherhood bestows many gifts, among them unconditional love, confidence, and a fierce protective instinct.  We would go to the ends of the earth for our children.  The bond is stronger than anything we’ve ever experienced before.  

The day we birth our first child, any child, that very special day we become someone’s mommy, is forever etched in our memory.  Women tell their birth stories over and over and remember them into their twilight years even when other memories have faded.  We recall as if it were yesterday hearing their first cry, seeing them for the first time, holding them for the first time.  There are so many firsts, and seconds, and hundredths.  We hope…

I vividly remember the day Meghan came into my life.  The second born of a twin set, younger than her brother by only four minutes.  She arrived into this world feet first and feisty.  If only we realized then she was simply showing us how she did things HER way.  She ran the roost over her parents and her two brothers her brief three years with us and oddly, no one seemed to mind.   Well, except for those (many) days we wanted to sleep, just for a few hours… oh how I look back on those sleepless nights holding her as an infant in my arms with bittersweet memories.

Birth days are memorable for sure.  Death days are, too.  Painfully so.  I, too, remember that day vividly.  So much so that when I allow myself to really remember, it brings back visceral feelings, raw emotion and a pain in my chest I never want to feel again.  How I survived the shock, I’ll never know. The day Meghan left my life was traumatic on many levels, that goes without saying.

Anniversaries of any kind are days of recognition.  Typically, they are of happy days and events in one’s life.  Anniversaries of a death, especially of the death of your own child are the most painful on every level.  Some ignore them or busy themselves so as to avoid the pain.  Others choose to be present in it.  There is no right way, only your way.

Mother’s day.  This day is different.  It’s a day to celebrate mothers.  To honor them for their amazing work of growing, birthing and parenting their children, long after they’ve left the nest and become parents of their own.  We never stop being mothers.  We never understand that until we become a mom ourselves.  It is a day unlike any other, when children thank their mothers for the self-sacrificing 24/7 job they do thanklessly most days of the year.  Not that the gratitude is not there, it’s just not expressed as often as mom might need or want it to be.  

If you are a mother and you have a child that has died, this day takes on a different meaning.  It’s one of those ‘trigger’ days for many of us.  A day when we are painfully aware one of our children is no longer with us, that there is a hole in our heart, soul and family. While we may celebrate with our other children, it is dulled by the pain of loss of the one who is not here with us physically.  Oh how we would give anything to have them with us again.

I was surprised that first Mother’s Day how much I dreaded it’s dawn.  How the day couldn’t end fast enough.  How I didn’t want to celebrate it, at all.  I just wanted to pull the covers over my head and wake up the next day.  I felt like the ultimate failure as a mother.  After only 3 short years, I failed Meghan.  I didn’t protect her as much as I could have and her dresser fell on her and took her life in an instant  and on what should have been a happy day just a week before Christmas, I had to say goodbye to her.  Because of something I could’ve prevented.   The guilt is so overwhelming if I allowed myself to dwell on it, I’d never survive.  

My job was simple it seemed.  Protect my babies.  Facilitate their growth and learning, teach them to spread their wings and fly when the time was right.  I never wanted them to have the wings of an angel.  Yet here I was, missing my baby, my only daughter, Ry-Ry’s other half, literally.  I was cranky and irritable all day.  I fought back tears constantly and when I finally let them fall, at the cemetery, alone, sitting on the spot beneath which her body lays in its small white casket with angels on the corners, it was in uncontrollable mournful sobs.  You’d have thought Hoover Dam sprung a leak.  Then, I looked to the heavens and saw to my amazement a cloud in the shape of a heart.  I smiled through my tears.  Could it be a sign?  A coincidence?  Most would say yes, but I say no, because it’s happened many, many times since.  You might call me crazy, but I don’t believe in coincidence. 

Mother’s Day is again approaching.  It’s my 6th Mother’s Day without Meghan.  That blows my mind. How can that much time have passed?  I’ve two wonderful boys still here with me on earth to celebrate with.  Yet with it still 6 days away, I find myself already becoming anxious.  I find myself resisting the urge to downplay the day, to spend it alone to avoid the pain and part of me still wants to pull the covers over my head and wake up when it’s over.  

The reality is it will never be ‘over’.  I am a mother every day.  I am Meghan’s mother every day.  Not a day goes by that I don’t think of her, miss her, love her.  Every day is mother’s day.  Just because the calendar and greeting card companies deem a Sunday in May ‘official’, us moms know it’s 24/7/365.  It doesn’t matter if our children are here with us or have left us in some way, even in death.  They are still our children.  We are still their mommies.  We love them as much as if they were still here and wish with all our being that they were.  

So instead, this year, I shall follow my own tradition that began that first year quite unpredictably and unexpectedly.  I will visit Meggie’s “special place” at the cemetery. Alone. I will bring my computer and I will write to her.  I will bring her a gift to thank her for the things she taught me about being a mommy.  I will cry.  Hell, I am crying now.  I will smile through the tears as I think of her insistent voice, her beautiful face and her gorgeous blue eyes that expressed wisdom beyond her years.  I will thank her for all she’s given and taught me in her life and in her death.   And maybe, just maybe, I will find a heart in the sky or feel the breath of an angel when I need it most.

So please, honor your mother and other mothers you know.  And if you know someone who has lost a child, give that woman the greatest gift.  Say something to her about her child that has died.  Say their name and share a memory.  Honor that child and their mother, on this, one of the most difficult of days for her.  Don’t be afraid of her tears.  Embrace her and honor her for whatever she is feeling.  Provide a safe place for her to just be.  No expectations.  Just love.  For that is what brings about her tears.  It’s all about love.  

Peace and Happy Mother’s Day.

Kim, proud mommy to Meghan, Ryan, and Kyle

Hi, My Name is Erin Keiser and I am Chloe’s Mommy - Written by Erin Keiser

Hi, my name is Erin Keiser and I am Chloe’s mommy. People tell you it gets better. Yes there are times where you have a great month and then there are times where it isn’t so great. This month my family and I went out for my sister’s birthday breakfast and then went Easter candy shopping.

Every family member had a child to pick two special pieces of candy for their baskets. My sister Carol had my son little John, my sister Keli had Carly, my mom had Gavin, and I had Veronika. As I picked out the candy I saw an all chocolate ballerina. I picked it for Veronika and immediately thought everyone forgot about Chloe. I teared up, knowing that she wouldn’t have an Easter. So I picked another chocolate ballerina up and told my mom that she needed one also.

Even though Chloe isn’t here with us on earth she is still with us helping protect other children, so that they don’t have to go through what she went through. This week I had to look at daycare facilities for my other children for the first time in their lives. I found myself looking for things that were unsafe in the class rooms, something I always do these days. Parents that haven’t gone through the tragedy of losing a child because of falling furniture would go into a daycare facility checking for cleanliness, qualifications, child activities, the ratio of children to a teacher, licenses, recommendations, and references. I did all of that but when I got in to the classrooms I found myself walking over to the book stands, trying to move them. I found that they were not secured to the wall. I walked over to the TV stand where a 19” TV sat and that wasn’t secure either.

I thanked them for allowing me to view their businesses and then asked for the director. I proceeded to tell her that I would love for my children to attend, that it was a wonderful place for any child to go, but because of their lack of safety I would NOT allow my children to attend. She stated that they were the safest and cleanest in the state. The director showed me the letter from Child Protective Services, an agency that makes random visits to New Jersey day care facilities every month. The letter did state that, yes, they were doing a great job insuring the safety of children. I could not believe my eyes.

I told the director that our daughter, Chloe was a beautiful little girl, Next month (May 7th) she will be five years old and starting kindergarten in September. But she won’t be able to attend her school, or any other. Three years ago her precious little life, at only 18 months old was taken by a falling 27” television. It killed my daughter and falling televisions have killed many other children. The director promised me that after her day care center closed, she would purchase “L” brackets and have her husband secure all of the furniture to the walls. She had never heard of those types of accidents and wanted her place of business to be the safest for the children. She also told me that there will be a letter written to Child Services regarding falling furniture and day care centers here in New Jersey. The letter would ask them to make it mandatory to check for unsecured furniture and if it isn’t secure make sure the owners fix the problem or close down the facility until they comply. I was very honored that they would fix the problem and help spread awareness. As a parent you never know how safe your home is, or how safe the surrounding areas where your child will be. Please just take one minute and look at where your child plays and make sure that it is safe enough. We thought our home was safe enough. If it were Chloe would still be here today. I am sure that every parent that has lost a child to falling furniture looks at it the same as I do now. Please, it takes only five minutes to check and fix your home to make it safe for your child. SECURE YOUR FURNITURE TODAY.
 
Erin Keiser, Chloe’s mommy

Trigger Days - Written by Kim Beck

Trigger days.  We all have them.  Some are expected, some are totally unexpected and completely blindside you.  Those are the worst.  Often, despite the visceral pain, the tears that well up out of nowhere, the feeling that your heart is breaking all over again, you have to carry on.  It’s exhausting.  You’d think after five years I’d be used to it, I’d somehow cope better.  Except when you lose a child, it only gets different, not better.

I’ve had quite the month so far.  It’s only the second week.   The reality is, it’s not unlike any other month for a parent who has lost a child.  You think of them every day, there are reminders everywhere.   It’s not all bad.  I have many happy triggers about Meghan, when I think about her and smile or laugh out loud.  Some trigger the pain of her loss.  Those are the ones we dread and can’t always anticipate.

It began Easter weekend.  Holidays and family gatherings are always days you feel the pain of their absence a bit more acutely than other days.   Is it possible to feel differing degrees of loss and grief? Yes, most definitely.  I feel it every day.  I tell her story often.  It’s part of my work, it’s part of who I am.  Yet there are days, even fleeting moments when the pain is almost as unbearable as it was the day I heard the words “I’m very sorry, we did everything we could but she died”.
 
Meghan is Katie’s friend in Heaven.  She died just about a month before Katie did, five years ago.  Her dresser fell on her the Saturday before Christmas, taking her life swiftly and silently, for we heard nothing.  Nothing is the same.  The joy of the holiday is gone.  Much of the color in my life is dulled. 

I began an awareness campaign the day after she died.  I needed to tell other parents what happened, so it didn’t happen to their children.  It was a compulsion.  I made a flyer at 3 am since I couldn’t sleep.  Her Website, Meghan’s Hope was born New Year’s Eve.  Judy found it after Katie died and we became friends over the most unimaginable of circumstances, the loss of our only daughters.  Now we work together to raise awareness with the hopes of preventing other children from dying the way ours did.

This year, the Saturday before Easter, just about a week ago, I was teaching a class on Childproofing and Home Safety.  I’m a childbirth educator and CPR/First Aid Instructor.  Safety has always been a passion of mine, but it didn’t save my daughter.  I’ll be damned if I sit silently by and not share her story in the hopes it saves some other family my pain.  I share every chance I get.  Her story often brings tears to the eyes of my students.

There was an egg hunt at the place where I teach.  It was a gorgeous summer-like day.  Little girls in cute dresses, running around with their baskets, squealing with delight when they found an egg.  Emotionally slammed.  Just like that.  Out of nowhere.  A little blonde girl. It reminded me of my daughter’s first egg hunt.  My eyes welled with tears, my heart literally hurt.  I had to hold it together and go teach my class.

One of the students, an expectant parent and physician came up to me after the class. He said “Thank you so much, this is such valuable information… we didn’t know what we didn’t know. We’re so overwhelmed at what we have to do and realize now how unsafe so many of our friends and families’ homes are…we can’t wait to get back and tell them about your daughter and that they HAVE to secure their furniture!”

I agreed and thanked them, but cautioned them. I told them the sad reality was that some of those who knew Meghan, who came to her wake and funeral,  who saw and felt our pain, who loved her and us and yet still chose not to secure their furniture when they had young children in their homes, even after she died. “It won’t happen to us”, they said. How was I supposed to take that?

Let me tell you (as I told them), it CAN happen to you.  It DID happen to us.  We’re not deserving of the greatest pain known to a parent any more than you are. Meghan certainly did nothing to deserve her tragic death.  She was being curious, exploring her world as all children do.

I always tell my classes that it’s our job as parents to provide a safe environment.  I was an educated consumer. People used to think I was over-safety conscious and a worrier! I actually had other larger, heavier pieces of furniture secured to the wall! I mistakenly thought her dresser was too small, too well made and too heavy to tip.  I listened when my husband was reluctant to put holes in the wall and the expensive dresser. I was wrong and I paid for my ignorance, my mistakes with my daughter’s life. It’s guilt and a pain no one should ever have to know. I live with it every day.

I always leave class with mixed emotions. Happy that lives will surely be saved as a result of my students hearing about Meghan and all her friends in heaven who died the same tragic and preventable way because their parents didn’t fully comprehend the dangers. Who didn’t know what was available to prevent furniture and TV tip over.  We’ve now changed that with our attempts at passing the Katie Elise and Meghan Agnes Act, by getting the attention of the CPSC and ASTM.
 
At the same time, I’m often sad that it was my Meghan who had to die. That any of us had to lose a child before we could collectively get the attention of those who CAN reach millions of parents and warn them of the dangers. We did, and we’re grateful for the good that’s come of it for the sake of other children whose lives have no doubt been saved. Yet we paid far too great of a price.

Then, as if Easter weekend wasn’t enough, on Thursday, I was teaching CPR to a Cub Scout den. My sons were there with me. My youngest, who is also Meghan’s twin, was being silly.  He said, “oh so when you aren’t breathing you lie like this”. He then lay on the floor and in the exact position I remember finding Meghan in when I knelt to do CPR on her the day she died. To further add to the trigger moment, he had chosen on his own that day to wear his “Meggie” shirt, a T-shirt with her picture on it. I’d say it was coincidence, except that I don’t believe in coincidence. So there he is, lying on the floor, bearing a striking resemblance to his sister physically and now, suddenly, unexpectedly, triggering that day for me, in front of 8 ten-year old boys I was teaching CPR to. Somehow I managed to hold it together, but I felt drained and exhausted instantly.

There is a take home message for every class I teach, every person I share Meghan’s story with. It’s simple. It’s true. It will save someone’s life. It is this: No parent who has lost a child for any reason EVER thought it would happen to them. Don’t be lulled into thinking the odds are too low, that it can’t happen to you or your child.

We have an awesome responsibility as parents to make the environment of our children as safe as possible. We can’t protect them from everything, but we CAN make them safer in many ways.  Four dollars and 15 minutes would have saved Meghan’s life, Katie’s life, and so many lives. Furniture and walls can be repaired. My heart is forever broken. This is the message I hope my students walk away with. This is what I hope you walk away with.  If you don’t ever want to bury your child – take action. Now.

I’ll gladly deal with the triggers, the pain and the grief if no other child has to lose their life from a fallen piece of furniture or TV.  

Thank you.

8 years ago this week we lost our Nicholas

We can't get our Nicholas back, but if we can prevent even one of these accidents from happening, then he did not die in vain!

Nick was 2-1/2 years old when he attempted to climb up his dresser in his room. He opened the second drawer, climbed in, and the dresser toppled over onto him. He couldn't breathe with the weight of the dresser on him. We never heard a thing.

Please fasten your furniture to the wall!!

Children love to climb. Dressers are often tall and an open drawer offers a step, making them very easy to topple. There may be something on top of the dresser they want and they will try to get up there to get it.

The dresser in Nick's room was a small IKEA unit less than 4' tall. It doesn't take much to overwhelm a child's small body.

Please also fasten your Televisions to a wall, these are heavy and front weighted and children are attracted to them. Better yet, mount them high on the wall, and make sure and stands they may be mounted on are sturdy and secured also.

If you need help, email me and I can recommend several options. Visit www.SecuraTV.com for several products I have developed.

Please don't worry about damaging the wall, you can easily fix a hole in a wall, You cannot fix a hole in your heart.

Look at bookcases, Storage units, anything that could topple over. Don't just look in your home, look everywhere your children go.

Most furniture now comes with a strap or hardware to fasten furniture to the wall, Please do not ignore these vital pieces.

Please fasten your furniture to the wall!!

You want to give a great gift this year?. Go to the hardware store, get some screws, some brackets, and give it to someone with kids. Better yet, go to their home and help them make this furniture secure.

No one should have to deal with our heartbreak of losing a child this way. This is not a disease which a cure cannot be found. This is preventable with just some education and simple tools. Please spread the word.

If you can do one thing for Darlene and I, please post and send this note to all of your friends and family, Education and awareness if the key to prevention.
 
Please send this to everyone on your friends list, and your email list, and ask them to do the same. Send it not only to people you know with kids, but to everyone who has grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins, and godchildren. If your kids go to daycare, send it there also.

Please pass this on to everyone you know, you may save a child's life!

We miss you Nick!

Thank You,

Rich & Darlene Pierce

"while the Foundation encourages everyone to take measures to secure furniture and televisions in their home, we can not endorse individual products. These should be evaluated by the homeowner to determine what is appropriate for the particular situation."

Education is the Key by Judy Lambert

Five years ago my three year old daughter was killed in a home accident so tragic and shocking that it continues to haunt the minds of many today.  After allowing Katie to play in her “newly carpeted and painted bedroom,” what was originally an exciting and happy moment became the most devastating and heart wrenching journey that a human could ever imagine.    Our Katie was killed several moments later, by an unsecured wardrobe cabinet that was standing in her bedroom.  As she innocently played on the floor eating her Smores crackers while gripping Buzz Lightyear with her other hand, one of the cabinets tipped, fell and crushed my daughter. From that gut wrenching moment of first hearing the deafening crash to watching my daughter struggle for her last breath, my lifelong journey of grief and anguish had begun.

It was shortly after her death that I found myself driven, probably by the power of grief, to search for answers and whatever information I could find on “falling furniture.” In 2005 the CPSC, (Consumer Product Safety Commission) stated that between 8,000 to 10,000 children annually were injured as a result of furniture tip-over.  They also stated that approximately 6 children a year died.  Other than that information, I found an article here and there, but nowhere was I warned that this type of accident may occur.  Childproofing sites offered little to no help.   With so little information out there my husband and I decided to begin our own website with the hopes of raising awareness of this hidden hazard.  Katieeliselambert.com went live 7 days after Katie’s death with her photo and an “under construction” message. Within a day or so after that, her story was posted and a guestbook opened.   Within several weeks after her death I stumbled across a website dedicated to a beautiful child whose life was also taken by a piece of furniture. That website, Meghanshope.org, shared Meghan’s tragic story.  It was not long before Meghan’s mother, Kim, and I began to correspond while desperately trying to find our way through the unchartered territory of losing our daughters.  Kim was not only an inspiration to me but a strong force, a true blessing and a gift believed to be sent by Heaven’s newest Angels.  Sharing similar views and a deep commitment to protect other families from this type of danger we launched awareness campaigns from two different states reaching people across the country.

The Katie Elise Lambert Foundationis a 501(c) (3) organization dedicated to raising awareness of the hazards of unsecured furniture and TVs.   It is our hope that by educating the public the number of injuries and deaths associated with furniture tip-over will decrease and eventually stop all-together.  According to the Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio, nearly 15,000 children yearly are treated in hospital Emergency Departments as the result of furniture tip-over.  This is preventable but not an easy task.

In addition to our informational website, participating in safety fairs and working with the ASTM International, it is our hope that all pediatricians will include furniture safety as part of their routine well-baby/child visits.  When the physicians ask the age- appropriate questions to their parents/caregivers such as “Is there a smoke detector in the house’ and “is your child in a car seat…Is all of your furniture and TVs properly secured to the wall” should be included.  To help make the discussion a bit easier for the pediatricians we have created a safety poster to be displayed in all offices as well as  brochures that can be given out to those families.  If a parent/caregiver is unable to afford or find a securing device, the Katie Elise Lambert Foundation can help.

When Katie and her two older brothers were babies and toddlers, I do not remember ever being informed that furniture could be deadly. Perhaps if we were aware of this danger the proper steps would have been taken to secure our furniture and our Katie would still be with us today.   Please help us to raise awareness of the hazards of unsecured furniture and televisions.  Tell everyone you know who has or knows a child to properly secure their furniture to the wall. By doing this, you may help prevent others from experiencing the incomprehensible grief of losing a child.

ASTM International Works to Make Furniture Safer for Children

One of the most popular inquiries that I receive from parents and caregivers is what has been done lately to help with furniture safety?  Obviously the Katie Elise Lambert Foundation is constantly trying to inform and improve furniture safety in the USA. There is the occasional assistance from local, state, and federal governments plus Consumers Union (Consumer Reports) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. But there is someone else who is working towards creating standards in the furniture industry to make the products safer for the public.

Located not far from Philadelphia in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania is ASTM International (originally known as the American Society for Testing and Materials). This organization develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems and services. (Source Wikipedia)

Almost three years ago Judy and I were invited to and attended one of their Furniture Safety Committee meetings. What we saw were representatives from the who's who of the Furniture Industry sitting around a large meeting table. That is right. We saw many representatives and engineers from furniture manufacturers trying to discuss better methods for making their product safer for children. The furniture industry works through ASTM International to create self policing methods and setting up voluntary standards for product testing. The goal is to try to figure out ways to stop the countless injuries and deaths that occur annually from falling furniture and furniture tip-overs. We learned that the group  includes representation from the CPSC and Consumer’s Union in addition to furniture industry representatives.

Understand that for the most part what happens during the meetings is even less interesting than watching paint dry. Debate is intense but methodical. Actually, debate is slow and methodical but after many hours of discussion we always seem to make advancements. The discussion might be about testing furniture or how to create a better tethering system. By the end of the day we arrive at a consensus and achieve real progress in improving furniture safety.

When you look at the big picture you see that the furniture industry is achieving more progress on falling furniture, furniture tip-overs and furniture safety than any other group, including most of the state and Federal government. During this month of March there will be another furniture safety meeting at ASTM International headquarters. I will have another opportunity to witness more progress and also to express my opinion whenever appropriate during our daylong meeting.  I want to make my angel Katie and all the children who have gone forth as angels for this cause proud.

Use an anti-tip kit and always make sure all of your furniture is properly tethered to a stud in the wall!!

TAKING FURNITURE SAFETY SERIOUSLY

As the editor of a parenting publication, I receive a ton of safety information daily. From bee stings to lead poisoning, bike helmets to obesity, every day brings dozens of releases from organizations across America trying to help children stay safe.

But I almost never receive anything about furniture safety. There is plenty about safety in the kitchen and bathroom - and for that I am very thankful - but considering that children get hurt and die from unsecured tables, TVs, dressers and shelving (among other items), I would expect to see more attention paid to this.

I am also surprised sometimes by the lack of seriousness some people give this cause. Maybe it sounds odd to them that there's a need to worry about such things. One person I know actually suggested to me that me and my "fellow worriers" should relax. "It's amazing any of us survived our childhoods," he said sarcastically. "You guys just want to wrap kids in bubble wrap."

If it would save a life, sometimes I don't think that would be a bad idea.

The truth is, when many of us were kids, there were no seatbelts, safety seats, childproof locks or airbags. Does that mean we didn't need them? Of course not! Our society made all those items because people got hurt and died and these were ways to stop the bloodshed.

The fact that some companies include tethering devices in the boxes of the furniture they sell is great. That some stores are beginning to post warnings in display areas is good, too. And that so many stores that sell furniture secure their display items to walls in their own stores says much about their awareness of safety issues - especially around young children.

Furniture safety is not some "joke." Children die from cancer, from car accidents, from domestic abuse, and from many more tragedies of society. They also die when unsecured furniture falls on them. Maybe not as many die this way as from other situations, but if it was your son or daughter, your grandchild, your nephew or niece, your brother or sister, wouldn't the fact that their death was preventable be enough to spur you to action? Isn't it time to take a child's death more seriously?

Daniel Sean Kaye, editor
dkaye@montgomerynews.com
PARENTS EXPRESS magazine
and Montgomery Newspapers Special Sections

Furniture tip-over accidents continue

Unfortunately there have been two recent furniture tip-over accidents in the Philadelphia area this past week. The articles are posted below. Please keep these families in your thoughts and in your prayers as the families try to come to terms with what has happened.

 http://www.mcall.com/news/police/all-5deadchild-brf.7093357nov21,0,6274311.story

http://cbs3.com/local/television.accident.child.2.1356945.html

Senator Jeff Van Drew, NJ, has been working diligently with another grieving parent to help draft and introduce legislation in the state of New Jersey. Erin Keiser has been working tirelessly to help spread the word of furniture safety in her area. This past week she along with the senator, held a press conference at the cemetery where her precious daughter, Chloe Carin Keiser is buried. You can view the story here:

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/press/new_jersey/article_e9063ea4-e850-11de-9672-001cc4c03286.html

Thank you.

Let Us Put Our Priorities In the Proper Order!

Recently in the news a 2 year old little girl was killed in New Jersey by a television set.  Now many of us can remember when our child was 2 years old.  Everyday an adventure!  We care for our children we want the world to be safe for our children.  Imagine if you lose this child suddenly!!  Well her parents and many other parents each year experience this unmeasurable agony when their child is either injured or killed by falling televisions and pieces of furniture which tip over.

What a great opportunity for our responsible media to grab hold and inform even teach other parents had to properly secure their televisions or to properly tether their furniture to reduce future accidents.  But no their priorities are mixed up!  It is more important to report about a cat stuck in a wall!  Obviously we love our pets and many of us treat them like our children. But for some reason in this generation we seem to have misplaced our priorities. 

This is reflected by the way stories are handled by our media and how our government continues to reduce funding in safety organizations like the Consumer Product Safety Commission.  There are so many missed opportunities. Our children are our future in turn they should be our number one priority.  Take a moment and think about that!

Remember furniture safety and child proofing!