Newsnight Maryland; 291

A shakeup in the governor's race as a Democratic candidate. I believe we are meant unexpectedly drops out. Last. Baby in your home to protect your infant from danger. You. Know. Good evening everyone I'm Camilla Carr and I'm Jeff Salk and Bob Offit has the week off. Well the list of gubernatorial candidates is shorter by one tonight after Democrat Eileen where men pulled out of the race today. Ramin says she isn't yet endorsing Governor Glen Denning and she plans to vote for herself. Her decision to withdraw comes too late for her name to be removed from the September 15th primary ballot. We spoke with Ms reminisced short time ago and sermon How did you arrive at your decision today. Last night I had a campaign meeting to assess where we were and what we needed to do in the closing weeks of the campaign and it became clear to me as I've been on the

phone fund raising and raising pledges of money that we were going to be sure it on the media that I thought was important to make this campaign a success. Recognizing that we could have gone to primary day but I really in good conscience couldn't ask the people that were willing to sign their checkbooks to sign that check knowing that it would be too little to be successful. How much money did you spend and how much would you have needed to spend. Well we've raised over a million dollars and we were looking at in the closing few weeks of the campaign between field operations and television of around $700000. And. What you find in elections is that during the summer people are vacations and and doing a lot with the family and really don't realize that the election's coming till the very end. And then you have a very short time where the people most people get their or their news is from the television. And so be claimed clear from me in order to be

successful in the closing days of the campaign we didn't need to do that media by now you're name is still on the ballot. So I would expect some people will will still vote for you. Well I intend to vote for Eileen Merriman and think Cramer is the best candidate in the Democratic primary. We really raised a lot of issues for the future of Maryland about integrity in office and today I was getting ready to present my solution to our education crisis knowing that half of our Malan students can't read adequately. I wish that the media had been there for the education press conference instead of the other press conference. What do you expect your supporters to do though. What would you expect them to go to the glen Denning camp or in the general election might they switch to the Republican side. What a lot of my supporters have said at this point is that they're going to vote for Eileen remanent sig Kramer and primary day and then make their decision after that. It doesn't sound like you're entirely out if you're still sort of encouraging people to vote for you. Well I believe that we had as I said a good campaign. I

came to the reality of asking people in the last five weeks to take their checkbooks out campaign with me and I had a lot of people calling saying you know stay in the race stay in the race. But I knew what it would take for the final days and I just thought that was the right decision. Any chance of you changing your mind before September 15th. Not at this point. How about an endorsement from Mr. Glendenning. Possible what I've said is that I'm going to vote for Eileen Merriman to see Graham in the primary day and that will address the general election after the primary. What would you say what went wrong in your campaign. It's not a matter of what went wrong. I started as you know from Harford County in the in the Baltimore region needing to build my name recognition which is exactly what we did and we really focused on the Democratic voters. The challenge became at the end. We have a campaign limitation in Maryland's $10000 for the entire four years for all Phasis local state and federal offices. So what you find is that a lot of people this point are maxed out on

their political donations. The the quick analysis for most observers is that this is very good for Mr. Glendening and this is bad for Ellen Sauerbrey because Mr. Glendenning will be able to conserve his resources for the for the general election. Do you agree with that. Well I think they both conserve their resources for the elections. I thought it was important for the Maryland Democratic Party to have the strongest candidate in the Democratic primary. I was Ellen's worst nightmare and we had a lot of messages for the future Marilyn. Have you spoken today or in the last day or two with the governor or any other candidates in this race. Both both called my office today and I was on my way to the press conference. All right. One final question do you have any plans for the future. Well tomorrow morning I'll be back in the office Harford County executive I have business to finish there take some time out with my family and my grandchildren. And I've had 20 years of public service and I believe that I can still help to make a

difference and I'll be looking as to where and how I can do that in the future. Eileen Berman thanks for joining us. Thank you. And be sure to tune into m.p.h. NEWSNIGHT merilyn for special primary coverage and analysis on Tuesday September the 15th. In tonight's Marilyn life here's something you may not know. Accidental injuries are the leading cause of death in infants under age 1 and 5 children under age 5 die every day from accidents in the home. This according to save sitter a group that works to improve the safety of young children and another probably a known fact more than half the parents who leave their children with babysitters under 16 Don't leave emergency telephone numbers because there is so much to know about caring for infants and toddlers babysitting is no longer the passive job it was once thought to be so an increasing number of hospitals and other organizations are offering babysitting classes. One of those organizations is safe sitter.

And by the way grab a pen and a piece of paper because we're going to have a couple of phone numbers for you. You know. Babies They're adorable they're cute but caring for them is a lot of work. Just ask any mom or dad. And for older children left to babysit. It's even more difficult because they don't always know what to do. But Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring is filling that knowledge gap with its safe sitter program and making sure you support the head then you're going to pick the baby up and you can bring the baby close to you and hold it with your other hand. This is a babysitting glass for 11 to 13 year olds offered once a month. It's a grueling 13 hour two day course. We want the babysitters to be safe as well as safety for the children that they're babysitting for. So we're teaching them about different age groups and what you know how to play with them but also how to keep them safe for a baby. We focus

in on you know the different things that they have to do to care for a baby and of course safety is one of the most important things. So if you're not comfortable with the baby changing the baby up on a high surface then you want to change the baby on the floor. Put a little pad or something under the baby so the floor doesn't or the rug doesn't get dirty. And that's a real safe place because if the baby tries to roll over or swarms out of you're out of your hand grasp they're going to be right there on the floor and they can't fall anywhere. Do you think this is fun or just sort of tedious or what. I don't really think it's exactly but I mean it's a good way to learn. If you don't actually know what to do if someone actually gets hurt or something. The idea for the safe sitter program actually began in Indianapolis. A pediatrician came up with this idea back in 1980. Since then it's expanded nationwide and there are several of these programs right here in Maryland.

In addition to learning how to care for a baby. The students also learn about items that could make a home safer for infants and toddlers. Anyone know what these are. These are little padded corner covers that the parents might have on a sharp table edge like a coffee table that the child if they're just learning to walk are just standing up. They might bump into that and really you know hit their head usually they're right at the baby's head level. What have you what's been the most important piece of information that you have learned from this class. I think the way to feed the baby probably about electric shock and how to keep baby safe. Are you surprised that you need to know so much information about taking care of. A small child. No not really. I've had it. I have a younger brother. When I was little I helped take care of him and so I kind of knew some of the things. The other aspect of safe sitter is better sitters today better parents tomorrow so we're hoping that by these kids learning how to take your kids

today and building confidence that will make them better parents. On down the line when they have their own kids. And if you're lucky you'll get a nice big burp out of the baby after a few minutes of doing this or even less. Who knows maybe something else as well. Well joining us now are Dr. Pat FOSS Ereli from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Deborah bear with the Safe Kids Campaign and Michelle Fleming from the Consumer Products Safety Commission. Ladies I don't know how many of you had babysitting jobs I know I did and. I realize after seeing this class that I was just lucky that nothing happened is it my imagination doctor Foster really or is it just more complicated these days taking care of babies and toddlers. Well the hazards were always there right. I think we didn't really appreciate how dangerous some of the things were now that we know more and know the terrible statistics that you have given that children die of accidents so frequently in this country that it sensitizes parents and then parents want the best for their

children when they're not around them. Let's talk a little bit about baby proofing your home. In my package my story they talked about padded corner covers but Ms Fleming you have some are articles some toys and some other items from the Consumer Products Safety Commission what don't buy are warning letters you actually recall avoid please that we are the federal agency responsible for keeping consumers they from their homes. And I've got a few sample of the time. Products. This is the Lego international companies. And the problem here the hazard here is the ball is a choking hazard and can get lodged in the child's throat. Statistically speaking we've had 13 20 related deaths and the majority of those were from the choking and small parts. I also brought out of the 13 deaths we've had seven of those were from balloons balloons or something we consider a hidden danger. And what happens is when a balloon is blown up and burst into several pieces on the floor a young baby will pick it up put it into their mouth because of the elastic nature of the product it actually lodges in the throat and cannot be removed. Even if you're the

parent is right there and tries to remove it it can usually can't be removed. You've got some Alomar sales company expressions children's jewelry children love jewelry of course to look like mom. The hazard here is that this string can break completely and the beads can can get caught in the throat and actually get lodged into this or inhaled into the system and finally get to its corporation recalls this windbreaker with the Consumer Product Safety Commission because the. Zipper tassels here and here contain lead in the paint and so poisoning is another issue. Kids are always putting their hands in their mouth and their fingers in the mouth and if you get let ingestion it can lead to problems later in life. That's it an important issue to keep them and you have a phone number for people correct the phone number is 1 800 6 3 8 2 7 7 2 or the initial CPS which stands for the Consumer Product Safety Commission. You can find out if your product has been recalled and or find a list of recalls and we're going to be

showing that number and another number throughout the show if you didn't get it the first time. Mr. Mayor let's talk about child safety seats. Apparently according to one nurse I talked to she said as many as 80 percent of parents don't know how to use those child safety seats correctly. I'd like to invite you to come tomorrow to our child safety seat check up in Bel Air Maryland Bel Air road at the Heritage auto mall to find out that really the statistic is closer to 99 percent of all child safety seats are not used correctly and completely in accordance with manufacturer's instructions. We have some pictures of some child safety seats correct Could we take a look at those. OK could you please describe that. This is an infant only child safety seat. This is used from birth to 20 to 22 pounds. It is used only in the rear facing position. The caring handle must be in the position as shown. These harness straps are at or below the level of the child's shoulders and they're snug enough so the only thing I can do is put one finger between the child's body and the strap in the shoulder harness retainer clip is at the level of the child's armpits.

Let's take a look at another one please. This is the back of a convertible seat and what we're showing here is a tether anchor many seats are now coming through with tether anchors in order to system better stabilize the car seat in addition to this vehicle seatbelt we're using the tether anchors and it is a very secure fit. This is a child safety seat in the toddler position and this would be used to forward facing for the child who is over a year of age and over at least 20 to 22 pounds. The shoulder harness straps are in the highest slot the seat is completely upright and as you see there's no child in this one. What I hear from some parents is that when they seem to be very happy that their child is oh my child is finally out of a safety seat. But should they be happy about that because isn't there a sort of what a gray area for kids let's say 5 to 10. Well unfortunately parents tend to push their children out of the different types of safety seats far too early. Children who are in the rear facing seats infants must stay rear facing for at

least the whole first year of life and must be at least 20 to 22 pounds before their turn forward. It's even better to keep them rear facing longer and in fact the seat that was shown on there can be used in the rear facing mode up to 30 pounds. The rear facing mode is the safest. Then children should stay in the full convertible seat in the full forward facing mode until they're at least 40 pounds or too tall for the seat that means the top of their ears exceed the top of the seat. And then they should go into a booster seat from 40 to 60 to 80 pounds. From four to eight to 10 years of age and one way parents can judge whether or not the seatbelt would fit them properly is to have the child sit on the seat of the vehicle if their legs bend over the seat properly at the knees with their backs totally against the back of the vehicle seat then they're getting to the stage they're tall enough and big enough to use the vehicles weapon shoulder belt properly. But until that time they should use a booster seat. And we also have a number do not we have a bet up the number is 1 800 370 0 s e 80 and that is the number for the kids and safety program of the

state of Maryland. There we go there's at number 1 800 3 7 0 seat. Dr. Foster Ellie let's talk about some injuries that you see with kids that parents are not aware and they just happen at home. What do you see a lot of. Well let me just for a second just talk about another motor automotive accident kids in the back in the beds of pickup trucks. They are absolutely not belted in in any way and they're bouncing along. I don't think many parents realize if they have to make a sudden stop the child is either going to go forward or out over the top of the bed of the truck. It's very dangerous in terms of injuries in the home. Children are very active and toddlers are not very steady on their feet but they like to run so. We see tripping injuries over core electrical cords where maybe they've either been run under a rug or are just outright children pick

up electrical cords and bite into them not understanding that that's not what you're supposed to do with an electrical cord. We're talking about very young children I mean even though a parent says no no all of us have been around children to know that NO NO sometimes is even a greater enticement to do those things. In addition we see of course ingestions and ingestions really are so avoidable that that's why it makes us so sad about it because children get into closets and cabinets and open things and eat them and it could be deadly. And they have little locks. They don't pay for cabinets and to keep kids out of them. Right. You do again. Most folks don't use them. One major safety issue is SIDS sudden infant death syndrome. The National Institutes of Health did three studies and basically they found out that you knew where you were. They found out that it depended on certain factors whether a

child would sleep on its back or its stomach is there a lot of confusion. They're about this. Well there is a lot of confusion because people thought it was safe to put children on their stomach because they would turn their head to one side supposedly And if they brought up any of their formula it would go out on their bed. Well sometimes children get their heads caught downward and they can't move they can't move their head their neck muscles are not strong enough they're just not moving. We just had a couple of deaths in the state. Children who were in child care who were on a big comforter I guess that was pretty pretty ample and they could not move their heads and they were thought to have just suffocated in on the comforter. People thought that laying on your back was less safe because if you were going to bring up some formula then it would get caught in the back of your throat. But for the young child. Day they can't they have more movement on their back actually than if they're

down face into a conference. Miss Fleming I see that you're nodding and we talk about soft bedding your group your organization. What do you recommend. Actually the commission just released the study and published it in the American Medical Associations journal Archives of Pediatrics. And what we found actually we looked at two hundred six studies of did and found that over 30 percent of them where the child had actually faced down into a soft fluffy kind of pillow either comforter or something you want to avoid any kind of pillows in the crib anything fluffy you want just all the child needs with this sheet and maybe a soft blanket you know not with the puffy style and you want to remove those from the the child's face and how many of you have been to someone's home and you've seen a crib and they have stuffed animals in the crib and they have. And they sell these baby quilts and people make baby quilts I mean that seems to be part of the baby culture.

That's almost a decade it's actually a new thing that we're seeing on the market. Twenty years ago you didn't see the bumper pads in the the plush style comforters for the baby. And what we recommend at the commission is to use those perhaps for decoration but to remove them when the baby is actually placed in the crib because the baby can't lift their head yet so they wouldn't be able to arrange or write some of those stuffed animals are massive. I mean they're bigger than the baby some time. And if the baby gets caught in it that's it. This beer I want to talk about another issue and that is you've got over half of all women working outside the home so you've got a tremendous number of children in daycare centers and the turnover rate as all of you know is very high in daycare centers so how do we get some of the safety and information to make sure it's consistent. When you've got all these kids in daycare centers and we can say this they do inspect daycare centers. But you can't have an inspector there every day every week. For the parents they need to be sure that the daycare center that they choose is one that is licensed by the state although of courses and fortune that's not always the cure all but the parents need to go into the

daycare center both before they enroll their child as well as when their child is already there make a surprise visit a daycare center should never be left to a parent the parent must be able to come in and see what their child is doing see the other children are kept you know ask around with the other parents who are there to make sure that their children are receiving safe care. Dr. FOSS really a professor of newborn medicine at Washington University in St. Louis said that traditions of child care are very hard to change. Your reaction to that. Well that's absolutely true. We see it all the time sometimes mothers will come in and we will give them a piece of advice about you know it's not so safe to do this. Well my mother said it was fine my mother said it was the way to do it and it didn't hurt me. And there is that kind of folklore that goes through generations. And I would agree that sometimes things are not dangerous but other times they are. And it's very

difficult to work with that. It's very difficult to work around it right because you're talking about changing family traditions huge cultural traditions. Correct. Right. Miss Fleming I see you nodding yes. The that that's an important message with the new Back to Sleep campaign I've heard that quite a bit. Every parent says Well I I was placed on my stomach and now the whole change has changed to the Back to Sleep campaign and it's very important. But as I said statistics are shelling the number of deaths going down when you do put the baby to back on the line on their backs to sleep so it is important. And perhaps I could speak to this issue of SIDS which is always been a concern for parents. Well I've just been given the high sign that we have unfortunately run out of time but I'd like to thank all three of you for joining us. Thank you Piers. And straight ahead on NEWSNIGHT Marilyn we're going to take you to the District of Columbia to a neighborhood there where computers have replaced crime and drugs. Stay with us. Hello I'm Louis Rukeyser inviting you to join me for the next edition of Wall Street Week My guest will be

a man who is lucky the number appears to be 13. He's Charles Bass and in the 13 years he's run the nationwide fund their shareholders have never had a losing money. Let's see if we can bring luck out of luck to us Friday night at 8:30 on MTV 3. 4 5. She gave us the gift of laughter and creativity. I thought you'd like she and your special friends would leave a lasting impact on children everywhere. When I look into Can I see you soon see as I look into camera. And on PBS celebrates the life and career of sharing that with us. In the Maryland biz tonight a full scale computer training center where you would least expect it will

have that story in a moment but first the latest on the phone strike. Telephone customers in our area are facing some service delays due to a strike against Bell Atlantic. Seventy three thousand members of the Communications Workers Union walked off the job Sunday as talks failed to produce a new contract. Most of the company's operations are automated so most calls are going through operator and repair services will be most affected. And we understand goshi actions are continuing tonight. Now the computer training facility it was built with corporate and government money in the middle of what was once one of D.C.'s most notorious public housing projects. The courtyard of the Edgewood terrace project was best known as a marketplace for drugs. Now another kind of economy is growing here with residents glued to computer screens working towards new careers. Bonnie Underwood has her typing speed up to 30 words a minute. I was on phone. None still on and on I worked part time for thankfully. And one.

What do you hope this program does for. A career. And when I say a career. I can move. Up and. You know McAfee eight. And more money. The Computer Learning Center is called the gateway at Edgewood. It's funded in part by a donation from Microsoft. Classes are either free or offered at minimal cost though some community service work is required in addition to new skills participants can also leave with a valuable piece of paper from nearby Catholic University. So we have four course sequence that's approved by the professional association of records managers our money. That qualifies people to become records managers. We're going to start offering that here this fall so the residence upon completion of this program can be hired in government or local businesses as records managers increase their income increase their ability to afford better housing better education for their kids and hopefully better. A way for them and the other members of the community.

Community building is what this project is all about. This part of Edgewood terrorists is now owned by the community perspiration and Development Corporation. It's a Bethesda based nonprofit that's redeveloping public housing in Maryland Virginia and here in D.C.. In doing so we were fortunate that there was a lot of commercial space in here. And you said that this provided a solid opportunity for us to provide a variety of training programs and resident component programs that will help this community not only live here but own what exists here and to be ahead of its time. The gateway at Edgewood currently has two computer labs and it will open two more in September. Geoff Mulgan take the classes just about anybody there and they're starting with that with very young kids obviously those are their jobs kind of classes but just computer getting used to the computer. Five years up through senior citizens and for the seniors it's the same thing it's a chance to get online maybe send some e-mail and learn a little about how computers work.

It's a great program. It's a good story. Well that's it for tonight's edition of NEWSNIGHT Marilyn but be sure to join us tomorrow. Is hospice care becoming a business instead of a way to provide support at a minimal cost. We'll hear from the experts in the hospice industry and the medical profession. Now for all of us here NEWSNIGHT Maryland thanks for watching. Have a good night. We want to hear from you. If you have a comment on tonight's edition of NEWSNIGHT marriage. Or a story idea for a future program. Please e-mail us at NEWSNIGHT at MPG dot or. Poor or call our TALKBACK LIVE at 1 800 5 8 6 1 4 6 1. That's 1 800 5 8 6 1 4 6 1.