Austin Vantrease Parole Petition

Before I get to the topic of today’s post, I want to give an update on Ryan. We were able to get another look at Ryan’s surgical incisions last night. They are healing nicely, with just a couple tiny spots of blood on the bandages. The incision is scabbing nicely. There’s no seepage, foul odor, or suspicious redness. What a relief! So far, anyhow. 

This is only the second time we changed his dressings. The first was Thursday night after he came home from the hospital. The next time we plan on doing it is Tuesday.

We treat these dressing changes as sterile procedures. Which means nothing touches him (and specifically, his wounds) that could introduce infection. This requires using sterile gloves, sterile gauze, and sterile bandages. Everything is laid out on a sterilized table.

First we remove the old dressings then switch out our gloves. Then we thoroughly cleanse the wound with saline (in sterile “bullets”) and sterile gauze. We change into new gloves again before applying the dressings. For the dressings we use “drain sponges” and cover the entire site with Tegaderm film. This transparent film is a thin, sterile dressing that is waterproof and keeps out dirt and germs, yet lets skin breathe. It’s an excellent product that can be left on for days at a time. Really, the only reason to remove it is if it begins peeling off or the wound needs cleaning.  It can actually be used over the wound in direct contact. After Ryan completely scabs over, that’s exactly how we’ll use it.

Ryan’s stitches are the dissovable type. They should begin falling out in 4-6 weeks. Until they are entirely gone I expect we’ll keep up with the Tegaderm, even though the wound will be “healed” much sooner. This means we should be wrapping this all up sometime just before Thanksgiving (the Untied States celebrates this on November 22nd this year).

Now, on to toady’s topic.

Vantrease Petition Ramping Up

Without much fanfare, yesterday afternoon I introduced a petition directed at the West Virginia Parole Board to deny Austin Vantrease any, and all, attempts at future parole. My ultra-conservative goal is ten thousand signatures. Realistically, I’d like to get one-hundred thousand. We have ten months to reach it because his next parole is July 2013. Now, if I can get “Team Diviney” excited about this then one-hundred thousand is entirely attainable.

I am relying on you. Not only sign the petition, but promote it through your social media. Share! Get you family, spouse, significant other, parents, children, and friends to sign. Or, ask them for permission for you to register their (digital) signature on their behalf. All you need is their contact information, because a “confirmation email” will be sent to them, validating their support. You also have the option of whether to make your signature private, meaning it will go on the petition but not be displayed publicly. No matter what you opt for, your street address and email will never be released (just name and city), other than to me.

I’d be more than happy to do this for anyone and everyone. Just send me your/others information (again, an email will go directly to them to validate their signature). Here is what is needed:

An actual screenshot of how easy it is to sign the petition!

I timed it and it takes less than a minute to do this. It’s as easy as it could be. You can make this happen by clicking the picture (above) or link (below). I also added this to the website’s Home page, where it will stay until the day Austin Vantrease walks out of prison… and must deal with society. By the way, I made some improvements to the Home page that I hope you like.

Vantrease Petition!

Join our cause by signing the petition to ask the WV Board to deny future Parole! A minute of your time could add years to his prison sentence.

This is important! The Parole Board considers community sentiment a major factor in denying inmate parole. It was a huge consideration in Vantrease’s last hearing, where reams of letters impressed the Board.