Several people and groups advocate for propeller safety online. Most of them are propeller strike victims or surviving family members. Some of their sites are blogs following the recovery of victims and wishing them well. Others are no longer active. Some are advocating for legal justice, searching for those who struck their loved one and fled the scene, or trying to bring those to justice they feel are hiding behind government protection. Still more are memorials to deceased propeller victims.

Several other types of accidents also have survivor advocates. Below the list of Propeller Safety Advocate Sites, we provide some links that can help you better understand survivor advocacy in general, and some links to some of their sites. Much can be learned from their similar plights and efforts to convince an industry that change is needed. Some have succeeded. Some have not.

Propeller Safety Advocate Sites

• SPIN Stop Propeller Injuries Now – an advocacy organization emphasizing propeller safety and boating safety education.
• Forever26 raising funds for boating safety and justice in memory of a young woman from New Zealand killed on her honeymoon in the Fiji Islands November 2007. This blog was originally at Forever26 dot com
• Jordan Thomas Foundation young man injured in August 2005 started a foundation to provide prosthetic devices for underserved children and adolescents with amputations.
• Justice for Kirsty Campaign an English songwriter killed in Mexico. Family and friends feel no one was held accountable.
• Osmany “Ozzie” Castellanos memorial and advocacy site
• Campaign For The Prevention of Boat and Propeller Injuries to Divers launched by DAN Europe (a diving organization).
• Get Connected kill switch advocacy site by National Safe Boating Council.
• Save the Manatee – an advocacy organization
• The LV Project life jacket advocacy
• Double Angel Foundation a boating carbon monoxide advocacy group that has many approaches that might be interesting to propeller safety advocacy groups.

Memorial Sites to Propeller Accident Victims

With the advent of new media, we are beginning to see some memorial web sites and other tributes to those who have been killed by propellers. Some of those include a advocacy message, while others purely memorialize their loves one.

• Challing Eugene Albert LeBlanc memorial site four year old boy killed in June 2001
• In Loving Memory – Jimmy Spicer young man killed in March 2005
• Derek James Hebert young man killed in May 2005
• Britteny Sage Lindt young woman killed in Sept 2006 – was at BrittenyLindt dot com
• Osmany Amado Castellanos on YouTube young man killed in July 2007. Also Ozzie’s Angels was on Facebook, Ozzie’s Angels on MySpace, and a memorial was MySpace.
• Forever26.com young woman killed in November 2007
• In Loving Memory of Mikayla Thibodeaux. 14 year old girl killed May 2010. Site was on Facebook.
• Eric “Octopus” Norris, personal trainer killed July 2010 Lake Havasu. Was at www.ericoctopusnorris.com site down August 2012.

Condition Updates Sites

• Patient Dane Justin Brock 24 year old BYU student struck while vacationing in Maryland in August 2010
• Molly Moses on CaringBridge 16 year old girl struck late July 2009. Also on Facebook at “Miracles for Molly”
• T-Off for Adrian announced an 18 November 2008 fundraiser for a young boy struck in Australia in April 2008. The site was at www.backvintage.com.au/teeoff4adrian.html The son’s father remains an advocate for boat propeller safety in Australia
• Michelle Saye tracked the recovery of Michelle Saye struck in late Sept 2008. The site was at michellesaye.tumblr.com
• “Prayers for Kristen Kilpatrick” covered Kirsten Kilpatrick” struck and arm nearly severed at age 18 in Texas in April 2009. site no longer active
• Orien Rose Updates blog created by a mother in May 2007, it was at moonfinderbeams.blogspot.com
• Britteny Sage Lindt Fund family of a young woman killed in Sept 2006 raises money to promote boating safety laws. was at brittenylindt dot com, site gone by May 2016

Understanding Survivor Advocacy

Once victims of tragic accidents have recovered, or their surviving family members begin to move on, many feel a strong urge to “right the wrong” and prevent others from having to go through what they went through. The industry behind the product they or their loved one was injured by is often resistant to change and to their voice. As they keep banging up against the brick wall, sometimes they begin to notice others doing the same, and begin to network with one another. Usually underfunded and blown off by the industry, these groups have sometime been successful. Industries typically paint them as emotionally misguided survivors, unwilling to accept the human error or personal negligence responsible for the accident.

• Survivor Advocacy for Injury Prevention: Channeling Grief into Public Policy Change. Injury Prevention Newsletter. Vol.13. The Trauma Foundation. San Francisco General Hospital. 14 Aug 2001. The Trauma Foundation also provides a brief summary of the article. Great article on survivor advocacy in general from several types of accidents, also provides a web site for more info at Survivor Advocates: Through Grief to Advocacy
• The Power of Suvivor Advocacy: Making Car Trunks Escapable. Injury Prevention. 2000. Vol.6. Pgs. 167-170. Identifies key elements in this case to be: “data and the lack thereof, identification of possible solutions, newsworthy tragedies and media advocacy, politics and sympathetic lawmakers, an agency with regulatory authority, manufacturers, and trade associations”.
• Parents of Fatally Injured Children Discuss Taking Part in Prevention Campaigns: An Exploratory Study Deborah C. Girasek. Death Studies. Vol.27. No.10. (December 2003). Pgs. 929-937.
• Advice from Bereaved Parents: On Forming Partnerships for Injury Prevention. Deborah C. Girasek. Health Promotion Practice. Vol.6. No.2. (2005) Pgs. 207-213.
• Survivor Advocacy: A Panel Exploring Past Successes and Future Opportunities. Elizabeth McLoughlin and Janette Fennell. 128th Annual Meeting of American Public Health Association (APHA).

Survivor Advocate Groups for Other Types of Tragic Accidents

A few groups started by victims / survivors advocating reducing accidents with other kinds of equipment and/or to assist them after being injured (useful examples for those wishing to create similar efforts to reduce propeller injuries).

• Kids and Cars advocates for car hazards for kids such as trunks, hot cars, backovers.
• MADD Mothers Against Drunk Driving
• ATV Safety Institute
• Cameron Gulbransen’s family worked with Kids and Cars to promote the Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety Act of 2007 – requires a reaward visibility performance standard that can detect small children behind vehicles.
• Landmine Survivors Network
• Danny Foundation – dissolved in 2005 after having tremendous impact on improving baby crib safety, looks like it has since covered some of its achievements online.
• Remington Under Fire: A CNBC Investigation. Season 2 Episode 13. First Aired November 23, 2010. Available free on Hulu, this episode investigates the possible misfiring of many Remington 700 rifles. The history unfolded of accidental firing victims, gun safety advocates and industry opposition in this episode, exhibits many parallel story lines to those that have unfolded around boat propeller accidents, propeller safety advocates, and the boating industry.

Useful Sites for Survivor Advocate Groups

Most survivor advocate groups share a lot of things in common. Because of those common needs, survivor advocates often frequent the same web sites. A few sites frequented by Survivor Advocates in general are listed below:

• TechSoup
• Many advocacy groups now turn to FaceBook as a place for interaction