Page 10A
OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Friday, May 5, 2017
SCREENS: Too much screen time has negative effects on children’s development
Continued from 1A
Center, city of Umatilla and
Good Shepherd Medical
Center drew a crowd of chil-
dren and parents who played
with giant beach balls,
frisbees, bicycles, a colorful
parachute and toddler toys at
Hash Park.
Robyn and Travis Crist
showed up with their chil-
dren and spent time tossing
around a frisbee and walking
a mile-long trail around the
park area. They weren’t
going screen free for the
entire week, but did want to
enjoy at least one evening
outside in the warm, sunny
weather as a family.
“It beats sitting around
watching TV,” Travis said.
Robyn said the family is
fairly new to town and it was
a good opportunity to get
out and meet people. Their
daughter Jazzmen Alvarado,
14, said she was glad she
came.
“I complained about it a
little, because it was hot, but
it was still fun,” she said.
Judy Cardenas was at the
park with her daughter and
niece, ages nine and seven.
“It allows them to interact
with other kids, off their
tablets and phones, and
get fresh air of course, and
sunlight,” she said.
City
manager
Russ
Pelleberg said he loved
seeing so many Umatilla
families out and about
enjoying the city’s parks.
According to screenfree.
org, the idea of a screen
free week came about in
1994 out of concerns that
television was being used
too often as a babysitter
for children. Studies have
shown that too much screen
time at a young age has
negative effects on children’s
development, particularly
speech and the areas of their
brain associated with things
like impulse control and
the ability to concentrate.
Those effects can last into
adulthood. Today the Amer-
ican Academy of Pediatrics
recommends no television
for children under 18 months
and only two hours a day for
children older than that.
Too much time in front
of a screen is bad for adults,
too. It has been linked to
ailments including obesity,
insomnia, eye strain, heart
disease, high blood pressure
and shorter attention spans.
Since
“TV
Turnoff
Week,” as it was originally
known, was first promoted
around the country, millions
of families have participated
in turning off the TV and
other electronic entertain-
ment for a week in the
spring.
Screenfree.org
offers
ideas and other resources for
schools and cities to offer
screen free events during
May. Although this week
was the official national
Screen Free Week, families
can resolve to do their own
screen free week next week
and participate in two Herm-
iston activities: May 8 from
6-7 p.m. at Sunset Elemen-
tary School and May 11 at
5:30 p.m. at Lovin’ Spade-
fuls Community Garden on
the Good Shepherd Medical
Center plaza. There will be
activities for children of all
ages, healthy recipe tastings
and free dental kits available.
Angie Treadwell, the
supplemental
nutrition
education coordinator for
the Hermiston Agricultural
Research and Extension
Center, organized those
events and the Umatilla one
Wednesday.
“We’re just trying to get
people to step away from
their screens,” she said.
“We’re all guilty of that.”
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
AMMONS: Has been in critical condition since the crash but is now stable
Continued from 1A
removed on the left side to
allow the brain to swell,”
Dave Ammons said. “It
removes intercranial pres-
sure.”
Ammons said his son has
had some high fevers and
respiratory issues, and is still
paralyzed on the right side of
his body, but the left side is
moving. That’s typical with
left-brain injuries, he said.
Chase has always been an
outdoors person, Ammons
said, and had been in pretty
good shape. He has been in
critical condition since the
crash but is now stable.
“One moment you’re
doing great, and the next
there’s issues,” he said. “You
gain a little each day, that’s all
Photo contributed by Ammons family
Chase Ammons is in critical
condition after an ATV acci-
dent near Pendleton April
20. His family and friends
are raising money to help
pay for medical bills.
we can ask for.”
Ammons said his son still
has limited cognitive function
after the accident. He realizes
that people are in the room,
but so far does not appear to
recognize specific people.
But he is able to follow people
around the room with his
eyes, and has obeyed a few
verbal commands, displaying
some basic understanding.
“We’ll have to cross that
bridge when we come to it,”
his father said. “A lot of issues
that come with traumatic
brain injuries take months,
years. I’ve just got my hopes
that once we get some other
issues figured out, like respi-
ratory, we can solve some
other things.”
Right now, he has a
tracheotomy and is not able to
speak, either.
Chase and his wife
Stefanie have two young
boys, one eight months old
and the other three and a half
years.
Ammons said he doesn’t
know much about the night
his son got in the accident, but
that he was driving an ATV
back to his own vehicle when
the incident took place.
Pendleton Police Chief
Stuart Roberts said police
have not been able to
identify whether the crash
was speed-related or due to
other factors, but noted that
the police had responded to
a call for a verbal dispute at
Ammons’ home earlier in the
evening and that alcohol was
a contributing factor in the
crash.
Roberts said the accident
occurred at 12:23 a.m. on
April 20, and that Ammons
was not wearing a helmet at
the time.
Friends of the family and
many community members
have joined to help out the
family, raising money and
selling merchandise.
Donations can be made at
several locations, including
Rocket Mart, Cadillac Jacks
Saloon and Grill, Bare Bones
convenience store and the
Packard Tavern in Pendleton,
and Hermiston Tavern and
Short Stop convenience store
in Hermiston. There is also
a GoFundMe account in his
name.
To find out more about
how to help out the family,
contact Jennifer Bush at
541-561-1147 or Laura
Peterson at 541-571-2203.
NASA: Top two ideas will be presented at conference for American Institute of Aeronautics
Continued from 1A
suite of exercise equipment
that was lighter than 500
kilograms meant to be used
in the International Space
Station — started out as a
class assignment.
Claudia Ehringer Lucas,
a visiting assistant professor
of engineering fundamentals
and the team’s adviser,
explained in an email how
entering the contest was
incorporated into an intro-
ductory engineering class.
“(Ryan) is part of the
ERAU Honors program,
which
provides
select
students with an opportunity
to go above and beyond the
typical education in a number
of classes,” she wrote. “As
part of this program, he
was enrolled in my honors
section of Introduction to
Engineering, which that
semester was set apart
from the standard section
by inclusion of this project
that I selected. The goal of
this project was to create a
proposal for the RASC-AL
competition, which is a
NASA competition aimed
at engineering students ... I
like to provide students with
opportunities to interact with
professional engineers and
giving them experiences that
will aid them in their future
endeavors.”
Lacey said the class was
divided into several teams
and not only was his the only
Embry-Riddle group to make
the first cut, they eventually
made it to the finals.
To participate in the finals,
Lacey and his teammates
will travel to a special forum
at Cocoa Beach, Florida,
which isn’t too far from
Embry-Riddle’s
Daytona
Beach campus.
The Embry-Riddle team’s
concept will go up against
projects
from
colleges
and universities across the
world, including Columbia
University, MIT and the
Korea Advanced Institute of
Science and Technology.
Jesus Ferrand, the team
member responsible for
drawing the concept in the
design software, said the
team’s exercise suite includes
a treadmill, a rowing machine
and a stationary bike.
“It’s kind of like a space
gym,” he said.
Cheyenne Reed, who
provided
research
on
generators and skin suits
for the team, said exercise
equipment is essential for
people who stay in space for
long periods of time. If an
astronaut doesn’t exercise,
they can lose 3 percent of
their bone density per month.
Lacey performed a utility
role for the team, editing and
writing some of the technical
paper required in the compe-
tition and researching some
of the subsystems of the
exercise equipment.
Without knowing what
was submitted by other
groups, Lacey said it was
difficult to say what set their
concept apart.
“We’re not completely
reinventing the wheel, we’re
just slimming it down,” he
said.
Although some members
were unsure of what made
their project unique, others
involved in the team provided
their theories.
Reed said being based in
an engineering school was a
competitive advantage due to
the access they had to engi-
neering software that could
provide more details in their
design.
In her email, Lucas
pointed out that the team was
able to use commercially
available, off-the-shelf parts
in new ways for their design,
something that was both
innovative and cost-effective.
Reed said another advan-
tage for the Embry-Riddle
group was their teamwork.
Although they spend time
working separately, when
they do come together, Reed
said there’s no bickering or
weak links.
Team leader Jack Grant
said Lacey has been a reli-
able member of the team,
someone he could count on
if there was an extra task or
research to be done.
The team of freshman
all come from disparate
backgrounds: Lacey moved
from Pendleton; Grant is a
Daytona Beach native whose
father works for Embry-
Riddle; Reed is from the San
Diego area and is enrolled
through the ROTC program;
and Ferrand learned about
Embry-Riddle through a
presentation at his high
school in Lima, Peru.
The teammates will all
descend on Cocoa Beach
on May 31, where they’ll
present their concept to a
panel of judges from NASA
and the aeronautic industry.
If their concept is one
of the top two ideas in the
competition, they’ll get to
present again, this time at a
conference for the American
Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics, the largest
professional society in the
aerospace engineering field.
HEALTH:
‘There’s more
work to be done’
Continued from 1A
and their doctors first. It
will protect those with
pre-existing
conditions
and provides states with
the flexibility they need to
help meet the unique needs
of their citizens.
“There’s more work to
be done, and we know we
are up to the task.”
Democrats countered
that the GOP bill would
have the opposite effect
from
what
Trump
predicted, pointing to esti-
mates it will kick millions
off the insurance roles
while imperiling coverage
for people with pre-ex-
isting conditions who had
gained protections under
Barack Obama’s Afford-
able Care Act.
They also forecast that
Republicans will pay a
steep political price for
passing legislation that’s
polled poorly and takes
concrete benefits away
while offering only prom-
ises of more choices and
lower costs.
The GOP health bill
would eliminate the fines
Obama’s law imposed
on people who don’t buy
coverage, and erase tax
increases in the Affordable
Care Act on higher-earning
people and the health
industry. It would cut the
Medicaid program for
low-income people and
let states impose work
requirements on Medicaid
recipients. It would trans-
form Obama’s subsidies
for millions buying insur-
ance, now based largely on
their incomes, making the
funding skimpier and tying
it to consumers’ ages.
And states could get
federal waivers freeing
insurers from other Obama
coverage
requirements.
With waivers, insurers
could charge people with
pre-existing illnesses far
higher rates than healthy
customers, boost prices for
older people to whatever
they wish, and ignore a
mandate that they cover
specified services like
pregnancy care.
The bill would block
federal
payments
to
Planned Parenthood for a
year, considered a triumph
by many anti-abortion
Republicans.
The
Congressional
Budget Office estimated
in March that the GOP bill
would end coverage for
24 million people over a
decade. The House voted
without a CBO estimate
for the latest version of
their bill.
BUTTE CHALLENGE
Mother’s Day
Prime
Rib
Buffet
Sunday, May 14 10am - 2pm
Featuring
CARVED SLOW ROASTED PRIME RIB
ROASTED RED POTATOES
FRESH GREEN BEANS WITH BACON
CHICKEN BUNKHOUSE PASTA
WHISKY MEATBALLS
FESTIVE SCRAMBLED EGGS
APPLEWOOD SMOKED BACON
SAUSAGE PATTIES
HAMLEY BISCUITS & GRAVY
CHEESE BLINTZES
HAMLEY CAESAR SALAD
HAMLEY CRANBERRY SPINACH SALAD
FRESH FRUIT SALAD
ASSORTED DESSERTS
ALL YOU CAN EAT
26
1 6
$
per
person
$
kids
6-12
CMLL TODMY FOR RESERVMTIONS
541.278.1100 OPTION 2
COURT & MMIN, PENDLETON
SATURDAY , MAY 6 , 2017
5K Run, 5K Walk, 10K Run, Kid's Butte Scoot
All races begin & end at Hermiston's Butte Park
DRAWINGS • FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY
Online registration & race information at
WWW.BUTTECHALLENGE.COM
All proceeds benefi t THE HERMISTON
CROSS COUNTRY PROGRAM
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
