This morning we went out to breakfast....
Just the local Denny's
As we arrive we notice a bit of a scene. 
Mom and Dad are being screamed at by their son...about 11 or 12..as the scene goes on, it is rather obvious that the son is most likely autistic and in the middle of a meltdown.  And not a small child.

Clearly, this is not terribly unusual...as Dad is handling it like a veteran. Kid gets in the car, then out, screams some more then bolts....he actually bolted twice...the last time he went down and paced on the sidewalk by the busy street barefoot.  As dad tried to talk him back to the car.

Do you ask Dad if he needs any help?  Do you ignore it?  What is the proper thing to do? 

I know you don't do what one lady did....and that is call the cops....there was no reason for that....and being Irvine...you dont get one police officer...you get 3 cars....(DH thought they would earn 4)...there was no abuse, no man handling...clearly they were not kidnapping him....just trying to diffuse a meltdown.

When the cops arrived, they already had corraled the boy back to the car...and into the back seat...

They take dad away from the car, ask mom to step back and then try to talk to the boy, which results in a 2nd door ding to the car next to them....

At that point, we did offer mom a drink, did she need water, ice tea anything? 

So they finish talking to the kid and walk away...what do you think the boy does?  He got back out of the car....by now he is calmer and can easily be talked back into the car.  The officers help them leave a note on the door dinged car (despite the fact the 2nd ding was done by the officer trying to help his partner talk to the boy) and they drove off to continue their journey....or return home.

But what would you have done?  Would you have offerred the dad some assistance?  Or do you just ignore it?

I used to be a huge fan of this show but, I stopped watching when almost every episode carried some political or moral message.  I also was bummed about the constant killing off of docs I was really starting to like.  (I totally missed Dr Pratts killing....)

Anyhow....

On March 26, they will be airing an episode written specifically for Camp Del Corazon (www.campdelcorazon.org) and I would venture to guess Tom Arnold had a big hand in it.  Tom Arnold is playing a doc in the episode and has been a huge supporter of Camp Del Corazon.  He attends at least one day in every session of camp. The story line is about a kid with a heart defect and his struggles.  I believe it is being played by the brother from iCarly.  The following is the description from the Camp website:

"The segment will sensitively portray the unique relationships and heartfelt stories of the courageous children who are growing up while living with the birth defect known as heart disease. Watch how these dedicated campers battle with their heart disease and build emotional bonds with one another that helps transform their futures. "

Camp Del Corazon was asked to supply many of the extras so, yesterday Ivan and Rebekah spent the entire day on the Warner Brothers lot.  Some of her friends have a longer commitment...which will surely mean more face time in the episode...some were even asked to bring sleeping bags...so clearly alot of this focuses on the camp.  Rebekah was asked to dance.  Ivan says if he hears that song "I feel good" one more time he might go crazy.  They were reenacting the dances at camp.  Rebekah was asked to bring her camp shirt but, for some reason never asked to put it on.

The awarenss to CHDs that this can bring is huge in my opinion.  Not only did these actors work with these kids, but now everyone who watches ER will hear more about them and see the many "normal" kids that CHDs affect.

I wonder if there will be camp facts at the end of the episode?  That would be kinda cool.  And more in your face....There are at least 7 heart camps I can think of ...and prob more (there are 2 in California!).  www.tchin.org has a pretty good list on it. Many of these camps have multiple sessions and are staffed by the adults with heart defects.  Just the sheer amount of kids who attend these would be a heck of an eye opener to many people who dont realize that that 1 out of every 100 people has a Heart Defect.

So dont forget to watch ER on the 26th of March...Rebekah has light blue jeans, a flowered shirt, glasses, short blonde hair and is wearing a lei in the scene....and prob drooling over John Stamos as I understand it....She was pulled out at one point for something special...her and two other kids....not sure what as Ivan saw no difference in how they treated her on the set.

Funny side note:  We have a friend who we see maybe once or twice a year.  He works for Warner brothers doing sound and set design (I think).  We just happened to see him for his birthday on Saturday.  When we told him, he said "I just finished building that set Friday."  Ivan did get to see him twice during the day but unfortunately, he could not stick around after work because he had a prior commitment.