"Save-A-Life Foundation in Limbo" by Lisa Black, Chicago Tribune, 10/11/09
32tyldd
October 11, 2009
Carol Spizzirri's life changed the instant she learned the horrifying
details of her daughter's car wreck. The teenager suffered a severe
head injury, and her left arm was nearly severed after her Pontiac
Grand Am slid off the road and overturned. Police, who found the 18-
year-old lying outside the vehicle, testified they weren't trained in
first aid and could offer little but comfort.
A University of Chicago doctor later examined the medical records from
the 1992 crash near Waukegan. Despite a county coroner's report to the
contrary, he said Christina Spizzirri might not have died had she
received basic first aid for control of hemorrhage.
Haunted by her daughter's death, Spizzirri launched a nonprofit
organization dedicated to teaching children emergency response
techniques, raising at least $8.6 million in federal and state grants
for her Save-A-Life Foundation. Firefighters and paramedics were
recruited to offer instruction on how to apply CPR and stop bleeding
and choking, said Spizzirri, who estimates 2 million children took the
classes, many of them from the Chicago Public Schools.
Her supporters in the 1990s included Gov. Jim Edgar, then-U.S. Rep
Dick Durbin and television star David Hasselhoff of "Baywatch" fame.
She appeared on "Inside Edition" and helped push through a state law
in 1994 that requires police and firefighters be trained to provide
first aid.
But Spizzirri, 63, has quietly closed the foundation's headquarters in
Schiller Park. The organization, which once had 13 national branches
and planned to go international, no longer receives public funding and
is "in hibernation" until the economy improves, she said.
The subject of an unflattering television report in 2006, Spizzirri
was embroiled for two years in a defamation lawsuit she filed in state
court against several critics who alleged she couldn't prove that her
organization had trained as many children as she said and that it
wasted taxpayers' money. Spizzirri, who eventually dropped her suit,
said it took its toll and helped prompt her recent decision to suspend
operations.
"I can sleep because I know I did no harm," she said.
As the foundation's president, Spizzirri proved skillful at raising
money and pitching her program at the state and federal levels. Until
2008, the Illinois Department of Public Health and U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention provided the lion's share of the
foundation's annual income. The state contributed $600,000 to $700,000
annually most years, beginning in 1999, according to tax records.
The Public Health Department "completed all of the standard grant
monitoring required by the grant agreements and found the money was
spent appropriately," according to an agency statement.
The CDC also provided thousands in grant money. The Federal Emergency
Management Agency adopted the program as one of many Citizen Corps
affiliates, but, "The group did not receive funding, and Citizen Corps
has since ended its affiliation with the foundation," said spokesman
Clark Stevens.
Much of the foundation's work, Spizzirri said, focused on Chicago's
public schools. City school officials did not respond to inquiries
about how many students received emergency training, but officials
previously confirmed that the foundation taught classes that were
arranged by individual schools.
Records show that Spizzirri reported her annual salary as $104,500 in
2000, an amount that dropped over the years to $33,380, according to
the last available record.
Critics have alleged that Save-A-Life initially garnered support with
a misleading portrayal of Christina Spizzirri's death. The
foundation's 1995 annual report stated that the teenager "bled to
death following a hit-and-run accident," but police reports indicate
only the teen's car was involved. The report omitted that the teen's
blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit.
Testimony at a Lake County coroner's inquest revealed the teenager had
been drinking alcohol at her mother's house with friends earlier in
the evening.
At the time of the crash, Spizzirri was on a visit to Florida. She had
undergone a rocky divorce and had a turbulent relationship with her
daughter, who temporarily lived at a neighbor's house, according to
court records.
Today, Spirrizzi is consumed with a new project: helping
municipalities fight cyber-crime. She said she is starting a private
business with close friend Rita Mullins, 64, former mayor of Palatine.
"I am," Spizzirri said, "a mom who lost a child, and that is all that
is important."
Copyright © 2009, Chicago Tribune