100 Women Making a Difference

100 Women Making a Difference made Valentine's Day very special for the Julie Roth Memorial Foundation by choosing it for $100 checks from each member. The total amount donated will not be known for a couple of weeks when members who weren't present have an opportunity to give. Other nonprofits nominated were Huron County Imagination Library and Love Grows Love. The Roth Foundation was formed last year to honor Julie Roth, a nurse who grew up in Berlin Heights and was killed in the deadly 47-car pileup on the Ohio Turnpike on Dec. 23, 2022. In the chaos of the accident, first responders couldn't find identification for her or her two young children. It took nine hours for officials to inform the family that Julie had been killed and which hospital was treating her son and daughter. "Out of this tragedy, we're going to help people," said Cindy Hildebrand, Roth's mother. "It has kept me going to have a focus on something that Julie would be thrilled with. She was in health care and she was always working to make things better." When her daughter didn't arrive about 1 p.m. on that day as expected, Hildebrand said, the family checked on social media and heard about the accident. "She was only 12 miles from our house," Hildebrand said. "We knew she was on the road so had to be involved, but no one could reach her. Your mind reels. Right off the bat, we knew she's in it." "We asked what would be the reason for her to not answer the phone. She's a nurse, so maybe she's out helping victims, but she wouldn't leave her four and five-year-old alone," Hildebrand said through tears. Julie's husband, Tony, left his job in Toledo to drive to his in-laws' home in Milan when no one could contact his wife. They finally found out after 9 p.m. that Julie had been killed and the children taken to an area hospital. First responders grabbed Julie's backpack when they had to use equipment to extract Julie and her children from the car, but her cell phone and ID had been thrown to the floorboard of the car and weren't visible in the damage. Officials finally found paperwork in the backpack from a time when Julie had worked as a visiting nurse at Fisher-Titus Hospital and staff there helped track down Tony Roth. While dealing with their grief, the family decided they had to act to help families, first responders and medical personnel by making identification and contact information easier. "On that day, first responders were dealing with multiple cars and multiple victims," Hildebrand said. "They were just trying to get people out to safety." But her family wanted to spare others from the agony of waiting they had just experienced. "Literally the next day was when I thought we had to do something about this," Hildebrand said. She and her husband, Darrin, talked with Tony Roth and her other children - Lauren Crafton, Jennifer Schindler, Ashley Wagner and Ryan Tiura. "We bounced it around for a few months," Hildebrand said. "It was a whole family effort." By February of 2023, they formed the non-profit Julie Roth Memorial Foundation and contacted a patent attorney to start the process. Then they had to perfect their design and find the right material, the right adhesive and the right manufacturer. Crafton said they had a long search to find a manufacturer willing to make the product to their specifications, but they finally found RayPress Corp., of Birmingham, Alabama. "They've been phenomenal in helping us solve every hurdle we've come up to," she said. So far, family and friends have spent about $25,000 on the Roth ID Tag emergency identification system. The first identification tags will be available in March. Information tags can be attached to car seats or other products used by anyone under the care of a parent or guardian such as walkers or strollers. The visible part of the waterproof, UV protected tags reveals no information, but in case of an emergency first responders can remove the tags to make a wristband for the patient that contains up to four emergency contact numbers on the reverse side. Once they started on their journey, the family set a goal of $60,000 to cover the legal expenses, patent costs, manufacturing, assembly, shipping, advertising, training for professionals and database costs for the first run of 20,000 tags. They believe that will cover about 20 percent of the car seats now being used in Huron, Erie and Sandusky counties. Kits with two tags will cost $20. Family packs will contain six tags for $30. Kits will also be sold by the case for 12 kits (24 tags) for $240. As kits are sold, the profits will go back into the foundation to produce more tags and expand the program to other counties and, eventually, across the country. In addition to getting tags in the hands of parents and guardians, the foundation wants to educate all first responders and medical personnel about the system. They are talking with area hospitals and even car seat manufacturers about the need for identification tags. "My ultimate goal is that it is as popular as 911," Hildebrand said. "We will have first responders looking for a Roth tag on car seats in an emergency." That's just the first step. Hildebrand said the tags can also be used on bikes, helmets, UTVs, strollers and walkers. They also plan to offer additional products in the future including wrist bands, key chains and decals that can be carried or applied to smaller items such as shoes. "We're as concerned with first responders and hospitals not having to struggle with this as we are with families not having to wait," Hildebrand said. The foundation is also setting up an optional database with contact information that users can join to update their contact information. The database will not contain any medical or financial information and data will not be shared with any other group or organization. Hildebrand said this was her first 100 Women meeting and the first time she's spoken about the foundation outside of family and close friends. The financial boost is especially welcome, she said, because she was about to have to start dipping into her retirement funds to support the foundation. For more information, to www.RothIDTag.com.