Friday, Oct. 18, 2002 | 1:45 a.m.
WEEKEND EDITION: Oct. 19, 2002
When 6-month-old Joshua had to undergo recent back surgery that put him in a full body cast called a spica for three months, his mother, Paula, did not know how she was going to shuttle him around town.
He would not be able to sit in his standard child car seat alongside his twin brother, Elijah. The orthopedic surgeon who corrected the infant's back problem knew of no car seat devices on the market for infants in spicas.
"I am not the type of mother who sits in the front car seat with her child in her arms -- I am absolutely neurotic about safety," said Paula, 35, who asked that her family's last name not be printed.
To the rescue came a program at the hospital where Paula's two adopted sons were born. University Medical Center provides a little-known community service that loans spica car seats to afflicted children.
"The spica car seat has been a miracle for me and my family," said Paula, noting that she and her husband, 33-year-old attorney Peter, make several car trips a day where they have to tote both kids. "The seat has given us freedom to safely transport both of our babies.
"If doctors and other hospitals and parents like me have never heard of this product, then it's up to all of us who learn about it to spread the word about this great community service. I definitely will be a strong advocate for it."
Cindi Gorham, trauma outreach prevention coordinator at UMC, said the year-old spica program is just beginning to catch on in the community.
"One of the first concerns of parents is how they are going to transport their children in spica casts, so we saw a need for these seats and acquired two of them," she said, noting that many parents could not afford the special seats that sell for up to $320 and are used usually for just a few months.
"Parents dealing with a child in a spica cast already have a lot to deal with, and having these seats available is just one less thing for them to worry about."
Earlier this year UMC applied for a grant to buy additional spica car seats. The Las Vegas Founders Golf Association gave the hospital $1,100 to buy four of the Spelcast brand seats from the manufacturer Snugseat.
"The seats are free for as long as parents need them," Gorham said. "We ask that when their child is out of the cast they return the seats. We don't ask for a deposit because a lot of parents simply cannot afford it, but they absolutely need the spica seat."
She said parents have been good about returning the loaned seats, though one given to a California couple a few months ago is overdue. Each seat is designed to last about six years under normal use.
It takes Paula about 10 minutes to strap her babies into their car seats, with Joshua taking longer because the spica seat, installed by UMC technicians, remains in the car. Elijah's standard car seat detaches and turns into a baby carrier, enabling Paula to strap him in before going to the car.
She takes the babies to the doctors about three times a week, shopping a couple times a week, to girlfriends' homes almost daily, out to dinner with her husband about two days a week and to church on Sundays.
"It (the spica seat) has exceeded all of my expectations," Paula said. "My life would be so different without it. I wouldn't be able to go anywhere. I would have to have Joshua transported to doctors in a medical van. With this seat I have peace of mind."
Paula says she talks about the seat almost everywhere she goes and has been shocked to learn what other parents who have had kids in spicas have done.
"One parent told me he cut the bottom out of the (standard) car seat and another said they put a bunch of blankets down in the back seat and placed their child on it," she said.
"One of Joshua's doctors asked me about the UMC program because at his hospital, he said, he has seen many babies leave in body casts and their parents know nothing about spica seats."
Gorham said the spica seats are available for children up to 40 pounds, which usually limits their use to infants to toddlers. However, she said, the UMC program also provides harnesses for larger children in body casts that secures them in car seats.
UMC provides spica seats for any afflicted child even if the baby was born at or received treatment from another hospital.
Joshua's cast will be removed at the end of January and, Paula says, doctors have told her he is expected to one day walk without complications.
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