In an effort to improve first responders’ ability to help children in emergency situations, the Mattituck Fire Department has partnered with The Julie Roth Memorial Foundation to distribute their product, ROTH ID Tags, an adhesive information tag that lists a child’s name, birthdate, emergency contacts and any other crucial information — and can be attached directly to a car seat.
Fire Chief Robert Haas said the department has purchased 500 tags to distribute to the community for free until they run out. Anyone with a child who uses a car seat can reach out to a fire department member or stop at the Mattituck Fire District office between 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily to pick one up.
“If you get a minor, a toddler or a young infant that can’t speak for themselves and something happens to the parent — God forbid a bad accident — their information is right there on a sticker and it turns to a wristband, so that stays with that kid the whole trip to the hospital,” said Chief Haas.
Although he noted that he hasn’t encountered this type of situation very often in his career, he said there have been a couple of times when first responders had trouble identifying children involved in an accident.
“It wasn’t a life or death thing — it was an accident where [they] didn’t know the kid’s name at first because the parents were already being loaded into the ambulance,” Mr. Haas said. “It was a little chaotic at the moment, but it was only a five-minute chaotic period — [the tags] would eliminate that process and us stressing out even more trying to figure out a kid’s name and all that.”
The concept of ROTH ID Tags was born out of tragedy for its founder, Lauren Crafton, and her family. On Dec. 23, 2022, Ms. Crafton’s pregnant sister Julie Roth was traveling with her two small children when they were caught up in a 47-car pileup on the Ohio Turnpike. Ms. Roth and the baby she was carrying, Edna Rose, did not survive the accident.
Her terrified toddlers did, however, and waited hours before seeing a familiar face, while emergency responders worked to identify them and get in touch with their father, who was at work.
Under the guidance of the same first responders who saved Ms. Roth’s children from the wreckage, Ms. Crafton created the concept, filed for a patent and secured a manufacturer to produce the unique tags less than a year after losing her sister.
Rollout of the tags began in Ohio and North Carolina and, since its founding, ROTH ID Tags have been adopted by nearly 500 community partners nationwide, including fire and police departments, hospitals and nonprofit organizations. The group has also pushed a strong social media campaign to promote the tags and expand their reach further.
Since April, more than 100,000 tags have been distributed, primarily for car seats, Ms. Crafton said. She added that many first responders she’s spoken to have expressed to her that these tags would have “made a world of difference” in past emergencies.
“I’ve been up at 3 a.m. talking to first responders through our website who will never forget sitting on the side of the road, holding an infant next to a deceased parent and having no idea who to call for this baby,” Ms. Crafton said. “We designed this to mitigate the trauma on children [of] being unidentified in these situations, and the ‘happy accident’ in that was realizing how much trauma we’ll also be able to mitigate for first responders and medical professionals who are now sitting with these children.”
Ms. Crafton said the nonprofit hopes to launch its “traveler tags” for adults and children who have aged out of car seats by the end of October. This specific product can be carried in an adult’s wallet or purse, in a child’s backpack or clipped to the visor of a car. An information tag that can be placed on a regular seatbelt in a car is also in the works.
“The way [the first responder community has] supported us, the way they have taken it upon themselves to spread the word about this, to let their other organizations around them know about this, has really been amazing,” Ms. Crafton said.
Chief Haas said he’s not aware of many other Long Island organizations that have gotten their hands on the ROTH ID tags, however, he noticed that the department’s Facebook announcement of the partnership garnered many positive comments from the community. He said some commenters living outside of the North Fork region tagged their own fire departments to see how they can acquire their own ROTH ID Tags.
The fire chief expressed interest in finding other products that would benefit children with disabilities who might find themselves in these crisis situations and have trouble communicating.
In an effort to bring awareness and spread the word about ROTH ID Tags, he also notified the Southold Police Department about the tags, so they are aware of them and can consider jumping on board with their own partnership.
“I’m trying to find something that we can all work together with and help each other out in our community, not just as first responders, but anybody else,” Chief Haas said. “I hope that all the other departments in the eight division and on the North Fork are taking this also — I think it’d be very beneficial if it’s all over the place.”
