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Dan Kegley/Mike and Dana Hounshell and son, Ethan, are the Smyth County ambassador family for this year’s March for Babies.

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Hounshells lead Smyth County’s march for healthy babies

By DAN KEGLEY/Staff

A name has been changed in a program that protects the innocent.
WalkAmerica, the March of Dimes’ annual shoe-leather demonstration of community commitment to promoting babies’ health, is now March for Babies.
“The name of our event has changed, but our mission stays the same – working towards the day when every baby is born healthy,” said Missy Bowman, 2008 March for Babies chairwoman. “We hope the new name will bring more people on board to help make that day a reality.”
Bowman emphasized that the mission priority of the March of Dimes is to fight the growing crisis of prematurity. “Premature birth is the leading cause of newborn death and we are committed to reducing its toll,” she said.  “By engaging more people in our mission, and educating more pregnant women and moms about healthy babies, we hope to reach that goal much sooner.”
MOD said more than a half million babies are born too soon.
According to MOD literature, the new name of its premier event is part of a larger initiative focused on all babies — those born healthy as well as those who need help to survive and thrive. MOD released a new public service advertising campaign, and is offering pregnant women and moms new medical information in new ways that fit their active lifestyle, including e-mail, podcasts, and text messaging.
“The babies in Smyth County need our help,” said Bowman. “By being a part of March for Babies, we can help save babies and give hope to families.  We can help give all babies the gift of a healthy start.”
Smyth County’s March for Babies will take place on May 3 at 10 a.m. at Riverbend Park.  Bowman said the Lifetime Wellness Center will do a pre-walk warm up. Doctors Dana Chamberlain and Jeff Jones will play the bagpipes as the walk begins, gospel singer Bob Campbell will provide musical entertainment, a prematurity tent will provide families with premature babies with support and information. A cake walk and other activities are planned for the kids and a picnic lunch will follow the walk.
“We will also have some exciting special celebrity guests walking with us this year,” said Bowman. “Our favorite mayor, David Helms, will be with us once again, along with the Hounshell Ambassador Family, Honorary Chairman Anthony Ellis, and country music artist Brock Hawkins.  Brock will be performing later that night in a special benefit concert for the March of Dimes, at Marion Senior High School.”
Hawkins, a Nashville recording artist and Abingdon native, will perform at 6 p.m. Tickets for the event are $10, children 5-12 will be admitted for $5. The Hawkins’ debut album’s first single “Both Sides of the Door” is set to release this month.
Opening for Hawkins is Hannah Smith of Abingdon, Supper Break of Smyth County and Laken Loupe of Saltville. 
According to a MOD release, Loupe, the daughter of Barry and Kathy Loupe, was recently crowned the FM94 Favorite Idol 2008.  At age 13, Loupe was the youngest contestant in the eight-week singing competition at Shakers Café and Grill in Saltville.
Eighteen contestants from Smyth and surrounding counties competed. Loupe has been performing in public since age nine, when she began singing with her father in church.
Ambassador Families put local, human faces on the enormous challenge of preventing premature births and providing these special children the best care available. Mike and Dana Hounshell credit techniques promoted by MOD for their son’s good health, right from the start. Mike cites in particular the steroids administered during his wife’s labor for enabling their son, Ethan, to “breathe on his own as soon as he was born,” he said.
Dana went into contractions in month seven of her otherwise normal pregnancy on a Saturday night and they worsened the next day, sending the couple to a doctor in Abingdon. After an intravenous drip failed to completely stop the contractions and a second IV did not work, Dana was admitted to Johnston Memorial Hospital.
She endured contractions all of Monday, realizing at some point that Ethan was on the way. That’s when the steroids were administered since babies’ lungs are among the last organs to develop before birth. Preemature babies often require breathing assistance until their lungs can do the job on their own.
“The March of Dimes started that [steroid therapy],” Mike said.
Ethan Brown Hounshell came into the world at four pounds, 14 ounces. Now, at three and the picture of health and vitality and high energy, he’s “right on for weight for his age and above average for height,” his mother said.
He is intelligent, conversant, and already has an eye for the pretty ladies, brightening as a somewhat older girl who lives nearby appeared in the family’s Adwolfe Road yard.
“There’s a girl,” he said, beaming and pointing and soon joining her for a stroll across the lawn.
The boy has allergies or is prone to colds, his father said. Other than that, he has a clean bill of health.
“We know it could be a lot, lot worse,” Mike said, his eyes following his son.
Tests have found no cause for Ethan’s early arrival, his parents said, indicating that while MOD has obviously made strides in premature babies’ care, mysteries remain about their early arrivals.
Honorary Chairman Anthony Ellis was selected by MOD for that role because he knows something about neonatal care.
“I’ve been involved with children since I started in health care,” he said. In the 1980s, he was on the neonatal flight team based at Roanoke Memorial Hospital, and remembers helicopter flights to transport babies in need to the hospital.
“We flew into Grundy once,” he said, and seeing the mountainous terrain, asked the pilot how they’d land. “Straight down” came the answer and then the landing.
Now Ellis owns Ellis Home Oxygen & Medical Equipment that he said is the only supplier in the region of apnea monitors for children. That equipment is indicated for children whose siblings had breathing problems or who have or are at risk of troubles of their own.
2008 national March for Babies sponsors are CIGNA, Continental Airlines, Famous Footwear, Farmers, FedEx, Grain Foods Foundation, Liberty Tax Services, nesting.com, and Kmart, the March of Dimes number one corporate partner which has raised more than $63 million for babies.  Additional national sponsorship is provided by Discovery Health, Mead Johnson Nutritionals, Outdoor Services and Ther-Rx.
“We are proud to be sponsored locally by Smyth County Community Hospital, Wal-Mart, WMEV FM94 and Z103.5,” said Bowman
For more information about March for Babies, or to register to visit http://www.marchforbabies.org, call 866-881-0032 or Missy Bowman at Mountain Empire Federal Credit Union at 276-782-9639.