Car seat safety gets boost at SMMC

Ira Rosenberg presents a check to help Southern Maine Medical Center purchase a Dial-A-Belt for parental car seat use instruction. With Ira are SMMC RNs Jan Roberts, left, and Pat Camire, right, and childbirth educator Rebecca Sevigny. (Saco, Maine) According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, vehicle crashes are one of the leading causes of death for children between 1 and 13 years old. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports, meanwhile, that parents often use child restraint systems incorrectly. One study found that 72% of nearly 3,500 observed car and booster seats were misused in a way that could be expected to increase a child’s risk of injury during a crash.

Two local organizations are tackling the challenge head on. Prime Motor Group and its owner Ira Rosenberg recently presented Southern Maine Medical Center in Biddeford with a $1,500 donation to advance car seat safety for newborn babies.

The donation helped the hospital purchase a Dial-A-Belt, a full-size, lightweight automobile seat that can be easily moved from room to room at SMMC so that expectant mothers and fathers can receive training for car seat installation. SMMC requires parents to receive car-seat education before they can leave the hospital with their newborn.

“Different cars have different configurations, so it’s pretty important that parents use the technology correctly,” Rosenberg said. “We want kids to be as safe as possible, so I love what the hospital is doing with this training. What a great idea.”

Specially designed for use in hospital settings, the training seat is created from materials that are medical-environment friendly. The vinyl covering of the seat is the same medical grade material used in ambulances. The seatback is ABS plastic from top to bottom, preventing spilled materials or fluids from absorbing or staying in the structure. The whole seat can be washed or wiped down.

Prime Motor Group operates several automobile dealerships in Maine, along U.S. Route 1 in Saco and Scarborough. The company’s main phone number is 888-674-6809.

A common element in things worth doing

The Offices At Saco Island published “8 principles of Biddeford-Saco’s” downtown success” yesterday on its web site. The principles are borrowed from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Just for chuckles I decided to look at all eight and pick the most important one (in my opinion.). I was torn between #3 and #7, but I ended up choosing #3: Self help. NTHP is focused on Main Streets, but their observation applies more broadly. “Only local leadership can produce long-term success by fostering and demonstrating community involvement and commitment to the revitalization effort.”

Having been involved in many community efforts over the last 30 years, truer words were never spoken. Of course that was all foreshadowed 40 years ago when my father used to survey my “work” in the yard, curse, and then say, “If I want it done right I guess I’ll have to do it myself.”

Maine has hottest business locations in Northeast

Downtown Biddeford-Saco was a hot market in 2012, but it's even hotter now.Last year I facilitated a meeting of two of the best “idea guys” I know --- Angus King and Doug Sanford. You can watch the creative energy sparking between these two in this video.

Keep in mind, I took the video when Angus was a candidate, and when the Maine Energy incinerator was still burning garbage in the middle of downtown Biddeford-Saco. Now U.S. Senator Angus King represents Maine in Washington, D.C. and MERC has closed. You see the optimism of these two just one year ago. Can you imagine how bullish they are now on the future of Biddeford-Saco?

Why were Doug and Angus so animated? Because they knew what the future would bring. Keep an eye on the Pepperell Mill Campus and The Offices At Saco Island. In the next 5 years, no business market in the northeast United States will be hotter than downtown Biddeford-Saco.

A Saturday surprise in Saco, Maine

Revitalization in downtown Biddeford-Saco is no longer a theory --- it's happening.Last year I did some work for Doug Sanford and the Pepperell Mill Campus. Every time I set foot in the place, I was amazed by the overwhelming aura of energy and optimism, and the unavoidable sense that the future is extremely bright for living and working in downtown Biddeford. And if I didn’t stop by for a few weeks for some reason, there was always something new to take in the next time I visited.

I had seen some of that in Saco in the last year or so, but the energy wasn’t as intense. Not as entrepreneurial.

That changed on Saturday, when my wife and I went to get some video with Conor Beliveau at the Saco River Winter Market. I confess that the market had not made it onto my radar screen yet; I was only vaguely aware of its existence.

But I woke up from my slumber. WOW --- that very same energy Doug has going over in Biddeford was in the air, a vibrant hustle and bustle, and an incredible selection of great products from local farmers, artisans and craftspeople. I was really very impressed, and so was my wife. She picked up some outstanding Mahi Mahi, which grilled up very tastily that evening. If you’re big on local and fresh, and if you haven’t been to the market yet, take a peek --- here’s the video I shot with Conor. The market is open from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. every Saturday morning.

Let me save you a few hundred PR dollars

I can sum up Inbound 2012 for you in 2 simple sentences.I’m just back from Inbound 2012, a four day conference in Boston. It was fantastic --- total immersion in the gargantuan culture shift that continues with ever-increasing speed. I’ll save you the price of admission to Inbound 2012 by summarizing the key public relations points in this very brief video.

Consumers are adept at blocking out your messages. They’re going to keep getting BETTER at blocking out your messages. More important, they prefer to RECEIVE information in very particular ways. Shouldn’t you be delivering information the way they want to get it?

Two big shocks for me at this conference. Very few people over 35 attended (most under 30) and I didn’t see any of my PR colleagues from Maine there. That was astounding to me.