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Date: 1/29/2020
SOUTHWICK – Southwick resident Erik Davidson and his wife Jo-Ann are hoping to make emergency situations less stressful for people with autism by creating sensory bags for first responders to have on-hand.
Davidson, a paramedic, and his wife, a special education teacher, are working to create the Start ‘Em Early Foundation, which would be a 501c3 nonprofit where donations for the bags could be collected.
Davidson, whose daughter and nephew are on the autism spectrum, said he was inspired by them and a firefighter in Ohio.
“An Ohio firefighter-medic just did this for his department and spent less than $300 and it was featured on EMS1, which is a monthly magazine article for providers,” Davidson said.
Until the foundation is established to take monetary donations, Davidson is collecting items for the Sensory Bags, which are bags with items to give to patients or family members of patients during emergency response. The items inside would be given to a person with autism – or any other person with sensory sensitivities or who are overwhelmed – to bring a calming effect.
“The bags will have Rubik’s cubes, small white boards, feelings wheels, and other hand calming objects,” said Davidson. “Also, noise canceling headsets and colorful draw string bags are needed.”
Davidson has meetings this week to get the foundation established and is hosting a meeting Jan. 30 at The Daily Grind on College Highway at 6 p.m. for anyone interested in the project. At that meeting Davidson will also be awarding Stop the Bleed certificates to Boy Scout Troop 338 members and signing their First Aid Merit Badge Cards.
“I have already been heavily involved with youth education,” said Davidson. “This is my main mission – to include autism awareness and youth diabetes awareness.”
The bags will be primarily used on ambulances and Davidson hopes to expand the program to include police departments. So far, Northfield EMS, Shelburne Falls and Easthamptom Fire/EMS are all on board, said Davidson.
As a paramedic, Davidson has seen the need for calming objects on countless calls.
“It's definitely a need for this population and it does help with our assessments,” he said. “Most individuals on the autism spectrum have sensory issues. In fact, that the big red or white ambulance with all the red lights and sirens can be daunting. This will assist us as paramedics to be able to help calm the patient, get to their level and a be able to do an accurate medical or trauma assessment.”
Davidson hopes to have sensory bags ready this spring.
“I plan on running this program all spring and into summer as kids will be getting out of schools for vacations, and this is when we see more pediatric calls,” he said.
For more information, contact Davidson at daddymedic11@gmail.com.