By Julie Hutchison | President, Co-Founder and Chelsea's Mother
Greetings! We are so grateful for your support and wanted to show you some of Chelsea's good work. Your support means the world to us and to those we serve!
The Chelsea Hutchison Foundation is a Colorado nonprofit corporation formed to provide help and support to individuals, particularly children and young adults, who have epilepsy. Chelsea touched many lives during her short 16 years here, and we are amazed at how many people she continues to touch through the foundation even after her passing. Her generous heart longed to see love and care come to others.
In her memory, The Chelsea Hutchison Foundation is designed to assist people living with epilepsy. Funds raised by this foundation provide grants for fully trained seizure-response dogs and for, what we believe to be, life-saving movement monitors to those in need. We educate the public about SUDEP (Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy) and provide support to those who have been affected by SUDEP. The Chelsea Hutchison Foundation exists to raise awareness of SUDEP and to grant comfort, hope, and positivity to individuals and families living with epilepsy.
To date, The Chelsea Hutchison Foundation has had the privilege of providing 122 seizure-response dog grants and has provided over 765 nighttime and daytime monitoring devices for those in need. You might ask why we provide these monitors as certainly they are covered by insurance, but they are not. We have awarded 61 families with wish trips to the one-of-a-kind Epilepsy Awareness Educational Expo and Day at Disneyland. The Expo offers a wealth of information and exposure to professionals, treatment options, education, and hope.
Moving forward, we would like to highlight one of the six different monitoring devices we provide so help you understand the importance.
PulseGuard Monitor, Night-time Monitoring Device
PulseGuard Mark II is monitoring system designed to detect and alert to any seizures that are associated with a rise or fall in the heart rate, as well as sudden medical emergencies that cause a sudden fall to the heart rate. The system consists of three components - A wrist or ankle worn sensor, a Dedicated PulseGuard tablet pre-loaded with the specialist PulseGuard software and a failsafe paging system. The sensor has a soft adjustable elasticated strap, suitable for babies right up to adults, is fully waterproof and has a battery life of 24 hours with a 2 hours charging time. The PulseGuard tablet needs to be within 10 meters of the sensor at all times when in use as it communicates with the sensor via Bluetooth technology.
The parent’s paging system has a range of up to 450 meters and allows the parent or caregiver to be alerted as soon as the users heart rate rises or falls outside the unique heart parameters set. It will also alert should the sensor become disconnected, the system suffers any software issues that cause the program to unexpectedly stop, or the pager loses connection to the system at any time, making it a failsafe system. PulseGuard is not a medical device. It is designed as a monitor for personal use.
Recent Testimonials
"For the first time in almost three months I can sleep without jumping at every sound or movement! This foundation is amazing and the work they do is priceless." Candace J.
"Honestly can't even put into words how humbled I am, my 4 year old son started with seizures 3 months ago and was diagnosed with epilepsy within 3 days due to the extent of his seizures. He suffers worse at night time and early Monday morning I thought I was going to loose my baby! Unfortunately I am not currently in a situation financially to be able to afford an Emfit bed system and the Chelsea Hutchinson foundation has made this possible for me! Such an inspiration to us all, the kindness shown is unbelievable. Fast response to messages and listened to me waffle on while my heads been a mess! Can't thank you enough." Jade W.
Upcoming eventsEpilepsy Awareness Day at Elitch Gardens 2019 - Denver, COSTOMP Out Epilepsy and SUDEP 5k Walk/Run - coming to several Locations across the United States in September 2019.Enjoy seeing just a small sampling of those beautiful children and adults we have had the privilege of serving in just 2019 alone. To date in 2019, we have already provided 78 monitors.
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