>> good morning, and welcome to "long island viewpoint." i'm ken rosato. today, we bring you information on how parents of autistic children are using gps devices to keep track of their children -- children who tend to wander. we also have with us an expert, on allergies i should say, who has advice on how to manage these no matter what the season. but first, since 2006, building homes for heroes has been devoted to making significant differences in the lives of the severely wounded veterans of the united states military. now, they build the homes from the ground up or modify existing homes in order to meet the needs of the brave men and women who selflessly served our country. and they are based right here in hempstead, long island.

u.s. marine corps corporal kevin vaughan, who just received the first home given on long island, and anthony grisanti, who is a board member at building homes for heroes. thank you, both, for being here. >> thank you. >> well, corporal, let me ask you first, when you found out that you were getting a home, what was it like? what did you think? >> i almost didn't believe it. it seemed a little too good to be true. and, you know, as time went by, it became more real each day. >> when did you serve, and where did you serve? >> i served in afghanistan. i did two tours. i was based in camp lejeune in jacksonville, north carolina, and i was with 3rd battalion, 6th marines. and i served about 4 , 5 years, and i was injured on my second tour. >> and what was the injury? >> i ran over a roadside bomb, and i ended up breaking everything hip down and had multiple surgeries back in bethesda, maryland, at walter reed, where i got my prosthetic on my left leg and learned to walk again and got

>> so you've decided to do something that 99.9% of most people would never do. you joined the military at a time when there's conflict around the world. you went over and served in an active conflict. you got injured in a terrifying place, in a terrifying way, came home, and had to deal with losing a limb and having to relearn how to walk. and then you get a call from people [laughs] and, stunningly, find out that you got a home. and this home was built just for you, basically, right? >> yes, yes, it was -- me and a future family, you know, if need be. >> hopefully not need be. hopefully will be. [ laughter ] yeah, not a half-bad-looking guy, right? [ laughter ] so, now, this is you. we got some pictures up on the screen right here. this is you arriving at your new home. describe the feeling of when you pull up to your new home. this is your place. >> it was intense, you know? honestly, the whole time, i wasn't even thinking about the home. i was just thinking about how not to mess up talking to...

know, encounters war overseas, and he's worried about how not to mess up talking. that's a beautiful place. that is an amazing place. i'm gonna ask mr. grisanti about the founding of the organization and its origins. who founded it, when, and what was the concept? >> andy pujol is our founder. he has a shipping business in long island, and on september 11, he saw what was happening in lower manhattan and needed to help and got in his car and went down and became basically a first responder down there and helping give out water, things like that, to the people that were actually searching that pile and looking for survivors of the attacks. and, then, after that, he wanted to figure out a way to really impact a soldier's life, and instead of donating money to other organizations and things like that -- andy's kind of hands-on -- he said, "i'm gonna

i'm gonna build houses for these guys." because that's really the need they need taken care of. i mean, if you get that out of the way, you know, that house, then, you know, so many other things fall into place for the soldier, especially because a lot of these soldiers have families. kevin will have one sooner or later in that house. >> i have no doubt. >> exactly. >> a few years, we'll be doing this show about his third kid. >> and it's such a weight that's lifted off those kids. [ laughs ] >> i sound like his parents. >> it's a weight lifted off their shoulders. >> yeah, because i just had this discussion, actually, not long ago with some of my co-workers about that, how that's one of the biggest expenses in your life certainly is your home. >> absolutely. >> and now whatever money you make, you worry about your taxes or whatever, your food. but your home is certainly if not the biggest, certainly one of the largest expenses that you have. so how many military members are you looking to service and take care of? >> well, we've done a hundred homes since 2006. we've done 28 this year, hope to gift a few more. kevin's is actually the fourth one -- or the third one on

there's a fourth one in the mix right now that will be gifted in the spring of 2016. and we hope to do at least -- unfortunately, ken, there's a huge need for this -- hundreds of thousands of wounded veterans around the country that need these houses. so hopefully we can do a few hundred more in the next few years, but we need help. we need money. we have great corporate sponsors -- advance auto parts is one of them, g.e. is another one -- but we need help. it's an expensive undertaking to build a house, especially from the ground up. >> do you take, also, donations of land? >> absolutely. >> wants to will the property? >> we take land. we take materials. we take anything at all that we can, you know, help translate or transform into money to build a house for these guys. >> can you also take a house that just needs to be refurbed a little bit? >> we actually have a program with chase bank where they gifted some houses that were in foreclosure, and we've gone over those houses. and certainly in some

to that house, so we're able to modify the existing home. a lot of soldiers that are missing multiple limbs we have to build from the ground up. >> sure. understandable. now, for you -- corporal, for you, it was basically -- i mean, you could clearly walk. you can ambulate well. so what kind of adaptations and what kind of specialties did this house require? >> i told them to really focus on, like, the shower, 'cause getting in and out of the shower so i can take my leg off and sit down on a bench, or if in the future, if i get another surgery on my leg, i have to get in a wheelchair. so now i can basically go anywhere in the house with the wheelchair -- in the shower, in whatever door i want. so it's just made for basically any possible scenario in my future. >> do you know a lot of other friends, other vets, who have other housing issues, as well, because of their injuries personally? >> i've served with a lot of veterans that are in my situation or, worse, that all would be in need for something like that. >> have you hooked them up with

>> we're currently talking about certain people right now. >> and that's how we do get a lot of our soldiers -- or, i'm sorry, veterans that we build houses for. it's recommendations from other veterans and veterans' groups and things like that -- walter reed. we've visited there and found some soldiers or some veterans that need houses, so... >> i would imagine you would just love to just say every single one of you. >> absolutely, absolutely it can, you know? and hopefully, in the future, we'll be able to wind this program down because it won't be needed anymore... >> let's just hope. >> ...and we'll have served everyone that we needed to serve. >> it would be nice to say we'd never be needed. >> absolutely. >> these men and women who've so selflessly given. i mean, we're not talking -- it's nice to dig in your pockets and give dollars. that's very nice, from the heart. but we're talking about human beings who've offered their lives. and many never came back, and some came back damaged here, damaged here, damaged here. the least we can do is take care of them for the rest of their lives. >> absolutely. well-said. >> so thank you for coming. thank you for coming and sharing your story.

>> so, remember, you can go to our website. you can find out how you can help out this organization and the men and women who desperately need your help. we're coming right back with some important information on autistic children and how gps technology can help with their

>> welcome back to "long island viewpoint." i'm ken rosato. two years ago, the body of of avonte oquendo, a 14-year-old boy with autism, was found in the east river. now, he had been missing three school. according to the american academy of pediatrics, nearly half of all children with autism wander off. every parent of an autistic child lives with this fear, and a new law proposed by senator charles schumer could change all that. please join me now in welcoming dayann mcdonough, who is a autistic boys. and she has struggled getting

use of a gps device called angelsense. it is specifically designed for special-needs children and was designed by a father of an autistic boy. thank you so much for coming here today. >> hi. thank you for having me. >> so, now, this device basically would be on the child, and it acts just like any other gps device. so you can check, what, on your smartphone or on your computer and see where your child is at all times. >> yes. actually, i have it here. it's just as small as one of the old pagers, and it goes in a little case that you can attach to your child with a magnetic lock, similar to the locks of the anti-theft devices on clothing, so that it stays secure. and it gives you alerts on your cellphone via text or via e-mail to whatever computer or whatever e-mail address you give it, letting you know where your child is. and if he walks out of range or goes out of the range that you've specified, you're immediately notified within less than a minute, and it tracks you

would show you what direction your child is running in. >> so you could preprogram, say, the exact address of the child's school and the address of your home or maybe the address of a child's friend's house, and you will know that if that child deviates from the school, the home, the friend's house, you'll get an alert, child not at the school during this time, child not at friend's house at this time, et cetera, and you'll at least know something's up, and you'll be alerted. >> yes. like, if your child, say, for example, goes to school, you'll get an alert your child is at an unknown location. you go in and check, and if it's the school, you let angelsense, the device, know it's the school. so each time the child goes to that area, it tells you -- for example, with my son, donovan, is at school, if he leaves the assigned area, you're immediately told that he's left, and then you go right ahead and check and see where he is, if it's a safe place. you know if it's not. you know exactly where your child is. there's even a button you can press that will, through gps tracking, map out from where you are to where exactly your child

>> now, so often, we're told by even law enforcement that the challenge is, even in the case of not only just wandering, but even abductions, it's that first hour or so that matters. so in this case, i mean, even if, say, an autistic child were abducted, you would know instantly in this case, because there's no question. >> you are also able to tell -- for example, it gives you the speed at which the child is traveling. so if somebody snatches your child and puts them in a car, you know that child's not walking 40 miles an hour. you know that child is in a vehicle, and you're able to tell the authorities right away, "my child's in a vehicle," and the direction the vehicle is going. >> so, is there anyone who has any reticence to allowing this in a school, and what would the reason be to let you know? >> well, usually, what i'm learning is that my experience is not unique. usually when people bring this particular device into a school, the objection is that the listen-in feature that it has violates the confidentiality of other students. and special-needs students, because they have special

so do their classmates, that kind of sends up a red flag for the districts. the thing is that in the case of the angelsense, the listen-in feature can be disabled during particular hours, so you can ask angelsense to disable it during school hours, which is what we did. i personally think the argument is, in my opinion, kind of weak, because a cellphone, regular smartphone, can also listen in, can upload video, can send text messages, and there's no way for any administrator to know on any given day whether one of the 300 students in the school is recording or taking a picture with a cellphone. yet the argument is that cellphones are allowed because if there's an emergency, the child needs to reach the parent. so my feeling is if cellphones are allowed due to emergency reasons, why worry about the listen-in feature for a child who has a tendency to wander. >> i think this is a loophole

you're dealing with this, especially knowing full well that you've had someone like avonte oquendo, this tragedy that occurred, and it should be addressed clearly. >> and the reason for listening in is because, also, many times, people with autism, people with special needs, they're victims of bullying. >> right. >> and parents feel the need to be able to listen in and know that they're okay. and, also, sometimes, with gps tracking, you may not have a clear gps signal, and you may need to use, listen in, to determine where your child is. is he near traffic? is he near water? and that will help you locate them, as well. >> now, how expensive is an item like this? >> this is exactly $40. $39.99 i paid. and then you also pay another $30 or $40 for the initial setup of the gps tracking, and then once a month about $40 a month directly out of your bank account to keep the gps tracking going. in our case, we were actually

people with developmental disabilities, and because our children's cases were so severe, they reimbursed us for an entire year of service. because the way that they kind of saw it is a blind child needs a seeing-eye dog, a deaf child needs a hearing aid, and a child who has a tendency to wander needs a gps. >> so basically $600 your first year and $500 every year thereafter for the peace of mind of knowing that your child now, if heaven forbid he or she wanders, you'll know where they are at all times. >> exactly where. >> i'm putting myself for a second in your shoes, and, wow, just for that second, the peace of mind is priceless. i can't even imagine life without something like that. that's amazing. and why anyone would ever sit back and say, "no, i can do without that," i never. >> i feel it even makes the officers -- like, so many times, i've had to call 911 for them to come and help me find my son.

where my son is and i know he's in a safe place, i have no need to bother them. i can just go get my son. if i go to see where my son is and i see that he genuinely needs police assistance, then i can call them. >> would there ever be the worry that your son or another child might remove the device or somebody might take the device off them if they knew where to find it? >> yes. and that's the reason why the lock that they have is like the anti-theft devices. you need a magnet -- a special magnet to take it off. >> fascinating. >> they also have a belt attachment so you can strap it to your child instead of putting on the clothes so that this way, if the clothes come off, they don't lose the tracking. >> that's fascinating. well, it sounds like a no-brainer. i want to thank you so much for sharing this information. >> thank you so much for having us. >> and if you want more information about this -- >> congress, you need to pass that law. please pass that law. charles schumer is a pretty good advocate. he usually gets things done. so if you got him on your side, it sounds like you got some action. >> i hope so. >> all right. for all the information and all the organizations featured on "viewpoint," and if you happen to have missed part of this show and you want to see it at your

abc7ny.com/viewpoint. thanks for being with us today. we're coming right back with what you can do to manage your

>> and welcome back to "long island viewpoint." i'm ken rosato. did you know that the symptoms of exhaustion could often be caused by allergies? it may sound crazy, but allergies can actually make sufferers lose sleep and then feel extremely run-down. please join me in welcoming dr. timothy mainardi, cofounder of hudson allergy. he is also a faculty member at new york presbyterian weill cornell and a consulting allergist at memorial sloan kettering cancer center. it's good to have you, doctor. >> thank you, ken. it's good to be here. >> now, i mean, people think about, you know, sleeplessness or being sleepy. how do allergy have connection? but allergies can cause everything from indigestion to

congestion -- everything, correct? >> the immune system is all over the entire body, so the feelings you get from having allergic reactions can really affect almost every organ. sleeplessness is actually one of the more common things that we see. when you have allergies, particularly nasal allergies, it causes congestion in the nose, and that causes difficulty for air to go back in. so when you're sleeping at night, when your soft palate collapses, sometimes people can't breathe, and they wake up, and that causes them to have a sleep apnea-like situation. so they sleep all night, but when they wake up in the morning, they don't feel well-rested, and it's because they're not getting enough oxygen while they're sleeping in the evening. >> which could even lead to -- i know people who don't get enough oxygen in their sleep may even eat more. >> absolutely, absolutely. >> you can have weight gain from your allergies. my goodness, look at this! by the way, doctor, do you have -- i notice a little nasal congestion in you. >> i have terrible allergies. it's one of the reasons why i became an allergist. it made my mother very happy. i was that kid in church who was sneezing away in the back pew. that was what i was doing when i was a child. and it made me very interested to see how this could change as you get older. 'cause when i was a kid, i

things, and as i got older, more and more and more allergies started to develop. so in the beginning, it was just maybe grass pollen or tree pollen, and, then, by the time i got older, it ended up being cats and dogs, dust, and things like that that are much more common. >> now, i could remember my brother -- both my brother and i have allergies. i have anaphylactic response to tomatillos, which i only found out three years ago when i was out at a mexican restaurant. i dipped the corner of a chip into a salsa, put it to my tongue, and within seconds, my lips blew up like balloons. ended up in the hospital. so, that's a rarity, though. not a lot of people have that. >> do you have your epipen with you? >> i do. i actually do. >> okay, good. >> it's 50 feet from me, but yes, it is within reach. >> good. that's the most important thing if you have a food allergy. i want to say that. if you know you have a food allergy, make sure your epipen's with you at all times. >> very important. you've seen the commercials for the epipen, the kids and adults. you jam it in your leg, and you follow the instructions. but, now, my brother i remember growing up was allergic to carrots, and we were talking off-air about how that is the

secondary thing. so talk about that. >> it's really common. this is called oral allergy syndrome, and there are a whole host of fruits and vegetables that people develop allergies to as they get older. but they're not really allergic to the fruit, so your brother wasn't really allergic to carrot. what he's allergic to is birch-tree pollen. >> right. explain this, 'cause i know a lo of people are gonna be confused by how -- if he eats carrots and he has an allergic response, then how is he allergic to birch pollen? >> you have to understand how the immune system works. the immune system looks at shape. so there are certain proteins in birch pollen that are shaped pretty similarly to proteins in carrots, but even more common than carrots are apples, peaches, and cherries. those are the most common. so a person first develops their birch-pollen allergy, and then the immune system then cross-reacts with carrots, apples, or peaches. now, you have to have the birch-pollen antibody first, and the symptoms tend to be worse -- or, actually, only even present when there's birch pollen around. so for your brother, eating a carrot in april and may, when

different than eating it in december and january. also, and i'm sure everybody will tell you this, is that if you cook the carrot, no symptoms, no symptoms. >> didn't have any symptoms. >> it changes the shape. so the shape of the proteins after cooking the carrots actually makes it so you don't react anymore. there's a whole host of these. melons. grass cross-reacts with tomatoes. these are things that you see, and these are things that you see in older people. you don't see these in kids. you tend to see these in teenagers and young adults versus the 4- and 5-year-olds. >> so, what do you do about it? >> well, what you do is you can treat the birch-pollen allergy. and actually, one of the things that we can do in that is immunotherapy, so allergy shots. so once you've become desensitized to the birch pollen, then, actually, that makes you desensitized to the fruits and vegetables that you're associated with it. so by treating the birch-pollen allergy, you then treat the vegetable and fruit allergy. >> and the immuno shot basically is what, giving your body little, tiny doses at a time? >> you give little doses of what you're allergic to. so there's nothing else in a shot except for what you're allergic to. it's dangerous, because we're

there's always risks you can talk to your doctor about, but for somebody who has a birch-pollen allergy, we literally get birch pollen ground up and resuspended. and start with small amounts and slowly increase. >> gotcha, until your body gets used to it. >> absolutely, and you no longer react to it. >> that's fascinating, i mean, just the idea of that. so basically, you're saying that in april/may, when birch pollen is out there, and then you eat the carrot, which your body thinks is birch pollen... >> absolutely. >> ...you're overloading your system with birch pollen, hence the allergic reaction. >> you're overloading with that reaction. that reaction just restarts. the same reaction that you would have with birch pollen happens with carrots. it tends to be in the mouth and in the throat, but it can be very scary. people seem to think that their throat's closing on them. they have difficulty swallowing, difficulty breathing. so it can be a very scary reaction. >> now, the difference between food allergies and, say, air allergies -- what is the difference? >> nothing. >> nothing. >> the body just has the same -- the definition of an allergy is it is a stereotypical immune response against something benign, so peanuts, cats, dogs, dust mites. the same cells are involved, the same machinery of the immune system.

environment you decided to react to. some people react to dogs. some people react to peanuts. but the actual reaction is exactly the same that's going on, and that's where the treatments can also sort of overlap. >> okay, so, 'cause i know we have -- my co-anchor in the morning, lori stokes, is part of the food-allergy initiative, and she has a tree-nut allergy, so she's allergic to everything but peanuts, 'cause peanuts are legumes, not nuts. >> absolutely. >> but if a nut comes off a tree, she's allergic to it. >> there's a lot of allergies here. >> so i guess the oils on the skin. oh, yeah. talking about all of us here. but, you know, here's another question is do you grow out of allergies? >> it depends on the allergy. the most common allergies that people grow out of, number one, and i stress this, is penicillin. there are a tremendous number of people who say they're allergic to penicillin -- up to 10% of people who are admitted to a hospital. >> i was. >> but are you still allergic? >> i don't know. i had hives as a 5-year-old. i broke out in hives from head to toe. >> i will tell you right now, you only have a 13% chance of still being allergic. there is a very simple skin test. any allergist across the country can do it and find out if you're allergic to penicillin.

lifesaving one to determine. there's been studies that have been shown at sloan kettering that people who have penicillin allergies, their outcomes are worse than those who do not have penicillin allergies. and we know that the majority of people who say they have penicillin allergies actually no longer have it. it's a very easy thing to get off your chart. other than that, milk, eggs, and soy. these are allergies you see all the time in children. you tend not to see them so frequently in adults. they get lost around early adolescence. >> so should one pay a visit to their allergist -- >> absolutely. >> all right. >> we can help you. we can give you all types of strategies, both with medication, without medication, to make your life a lot easier. >> and are there mild symptoms have? symptoms? is a mild symptom. obviously, the nasal symptoms and the itchy eyes are the ones that are more common that we see, but any itchy throat, difficulty swallowing, things their throat. these are all things that are also signs of other allergies that should be explored. >> dr. mainardi, thank you so much for being with us. >> it's good to be here. thank you. >> if you're sneezing, do >> [ laughs ]

i'm ken rosato. we want to thank you again for joining us. enjoy the rest of your weekend. be well. is that coffee? yea, it's nespresso. i want in. you're ready.

is that coffee? nespresso. what else? hey, have you heard? heard what? before school starts in september, all kids going into 7th and 12th grade have to get the meningococcal vaccine. it protects against diseases like meningitis. that can be serious, even deadly. yeah, that's why they can't start school without it. something to share? (giggling) actually, yes! talk to your health care provider. even kids who've had one shot

good morning. it is 6 a.m. the search resumes today for the two missing crew members after a tugboat sank to the bottom of the hudson river, killing one. protestors making their mark in kansas city, missouri, this time at a donald trump rally. it has gop rivals questioning whether they will in fact back