right now on news 4 this onek, a work z warning. the speed camera ticketing more than 300 drivers a day. a breakthrough that could save many lives. why kidneys once considered unfit for transplant mayke now ma the cut. and you have the pencils and the new back packs, but is your child physically and mentally ready return to class? we're worng for you to help you get your family ready for school. >> announcer: welcome to news 4 this wk. >> hello, everyone. i'm leon harro. backchool season is in full swing right no some virginia and d.c. students are already in class. more of them will be returning but as you cross off the items on your school supply list, don't forget about your child's physical andental health needs. news 4's justin finch begins our

team coverage. he's talking with a doctor a put thinents can do now to set up childre for a healthy school year. >> reporter: vaccinations and doctors exams are your usual requirements for students enrolling in school. but don'tet that be your child's only time seeing a doctor. say, for example, they're insp t or want to start one. in that case, you should make an appointment. >> you want to make sure that the heart is in good shape, that they're ready to take on the sport. >> reporter: dr. kirk newman see yoef of children's national hospital iso a pediatric surgeon. he recommends routine back to scol doctor's visits saying they grow more important as your child grows older. >> having the conversations in thoseeetings maybe giving the child some alone time with the doctor so ify tve any questions to build that relationship, so there's trust. >> reporter: for parents of kids with allergies or other health concerns, a back to school checkup can also be critical. >> i a child gets exposed to

something that maybe they react to, you want to have that plan in place whether they need, you know, a epipen, to get out of the trouble they're in, or they need to go to an emergency department. you want to have that plan. you want the school to know where to send the child. >> reporter: if it's your child's the first time or going to a new one, you may want to g to ease the nerves. >> they've seen the school, they know where the bus to be dropped off. they have it in their mind, this isn't so hard. i can deal with this. >> reporter: justin finch, news 4. >> some area schools are increasing or changing their security practices for the school year. a virginia commonwea ph universil comey out this week shows that 76% of virginians believe their school is safe or very safe. but the state is split on how to keep those ratesup. 36 believe that addressing mental health issues is most important. 41% say that increasing security

should b the priority. 20% say they believe that mental health services and add security are both important. news 4's dav culver takes us to fauquier county where armed guards are a part of their new safety plan. >> reporter: students are used to seeing school resource officersike officer tyndall. new faces will be walking the halls all in an effort toee k your kids safe. fraud mailer is one of those new to the school we caught up with him near warrenton. >> when i got dressed today, i'm like, i'm starting my new career. >> repor school security officer or sso. he agreed to the position a day after he retired from virginia state police. he w a trooper for 29 years. >> a lot of times in my previous job, we're reactive and this job i can beveroactive. >> one of our schools will have at least an armed school security officer within that building. >> reporter: superintendent

dr. david jacksays in high schools like kettle run, the new ssos will often work alongside a sheriff's deputy resourcece offir like officer tyndall. >> good morning. >> repngter: dr. jack is looki for candidates with a law enforcement background and those who can connect with young people. >> our school resource officers to now have good relationships with students. ndwe expect a anticipate the ssos will s do thee thing. >> repter: students like harper say the wanted more security especially after parkland. ill be in is cop their halls. >> now we know officer kent will be somewhere in casen emergency, we have someone else that will be able to get to us, tlp us out. >> reporter: he'e ing it all in, getting to know the school and community he'll protect and sv withouthe badge. in fauquier county, david culver, news 4. >> news 4 is working for you, helping your familyet ready for the school year. on nbcwashington.com, you'll find tips for saving money onie

school sup and advice on getting kids back on a sleep schedule and tricks as well for organizing your family calendar. search back to school on our website. a northern virginia girl has quite a story to tell about h summer vacation because she helped deliver a baby in an apartment bathroom this week, and get this, she's only 10 years old. as news 4's shomari stone explains, she says that youtube helped her to find out what to do. >> i have a new cousin and i'll be excited when he comes home. >> reporter: khloe is a smart, quick thinking 10-year-old in fairfax county. >> i reaot a lnd i write down a lot of stuff. >> reporter: she's at home with her 21-year-old aunt dominique tuafday rnoon. dominique isn't feeling well. walks in the bathroom. suddenly -- >> she screamedam my saying, khloe. and i came. she's like, there's a baby. >> reporter: you rerd correctly, a baby. dominique gave birth in the bathroom. >> she got in the bathtub and had the baby on the floor, but

she had lost a lot of blood so she fell down and she p out. so i grabbed the baby. i called 911. action,ter: khloe takes cuts the umbilical cord, wraps and holds the baby. >> what to do when a child is sick. >> rter: you may ask how does she know what to . the internet. >> i watch youtube videos. >> reporter: moments later medics arrive and drive dominique and her baby t anova fairfax hospital. meanwhile khloe's mother comes home. >> is thiss real,is happening now? did i walk in the right house? >> reporter: you are in shock? s> very much so. >> reporter: tha because no one knew dominique was pregnant. >> she didn't tell anybody. i thought it was just her regular stomach. >> reporter: why didn't you let anyone know you were pregnant? >> i was scared. >> reporter: scared? >> yeah. >> reporter: in phone interview from her hospital bed, dominique tells me she's now relieved. e and herewborn baby are

healthy and resting thanks to khloe. >> i'm very proud of her. that makes me feel good. >> that makes me happy. >> reporter: in fairfax county, i'm shomari stone, news 4. >> big ups and a high five to khloe. coming up, our i-team uncovers parking problems at a vaer . heroes being forcedo walk the length of three football fields to get

one year ago, beltway speed cameras arrived in prince george's county and they are paying off for the state big time. we lookedt the construction zone near the suitland road bridge. peed limit there, 55 miles a hour. when you go 12 miles an hour over that, a camera takes your pictur and that happens more than 300 drivers a day, more than 120,000 tickets have been issued, costing drivers nearly $5 million.

>> there are still far t many motorists who are speeding with abject disregard for human life and limbs in this rk zone. >> the construction near the suitland road bride is expec to last for two more years, and that means the cameras will be there for two more years. when we come back, we are working for your health. a new option that could radically change kidney donation processes here. meet a man who is thriving after receiving a kidney that, up until now, wasn't considered healthy enough to be transplanted.

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to keep you both comfortable. it even helps with this. so you wake up rey to put your pedal to the metal. and now, all beds are on sale. save 50% on the new sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed. plus 24-month financing on all beds. only for a limited time. sleep y mber. proven, qualeep. there's new hope for thousands of people awaiting for kidney tranlants. it can take up to eight years to find a suitable donor, but our doreen gtzler explains how kidneys once deemed unfit for transplant could now save hundreds of lives. >> when i'm hooked to a machine

for four hours, threes d week, which after treatment from the dialysis, after being off th machine, my day was pretty much done. i mean, i couldn't do anything at the hou. all i could do was get in the bed and rest. >> elliott stevens is talking about the kidney dialysis that kept him alive while he waited for a kidney transplant. he's a married father of two, active in his church for many years, a long career delivering packages for fedex. when his kidneys started to fail in his 50s, everything changed. with that dialysis schedule, he couldn'twork he couldn't travel. >> it just drained my body. i couldn't do things with my daughters and go out with my ife to dinner and things like that. >> but then about 15 months after he went on the transplant list, he got the ete-night phall he'd been hoping for. >> and it was georgetown hospital asking me, that they said they found a match for me as far as a kidney, would i be interested in it.

and me and my wife, we embraced, and we were thankful.he >> but was a catch, and a big one. the donor kidney was infected with hepatitis c. it's a virus that can slowly destroy your liver.s stevad to make a quick choice, reject the offersp and d years waiting for another donor, or take the infected s kidney andnd the nextmo three hs taking medication to cure the hepatitis c. >> i took the chance, you know? because i looked at my and my wife and i said, you know, i want to spend more time them. >> and so we looked for ways to kidneyste those the last thing we want to do with 100,000 people waiting for kidneys is to waist aste any of. >> doctoral aleksandr drer gilford is a dr. at georgetown university hospital. his team managed stevens' successful kidney transplant. >> we wouldn'tant to give it

to just anybody. for example, patients who don't do well ondialysis, who have exceptionally long times to wait, they're patientshe -- only choice for transplant may be to get a hepatitis c positive kidney. >> mr. stevens was a candidate for the infected kidney only because he already had hepatitis c fm a childhood blood transfusion, he says. now more than a year after his t tran, he has a new kidney and 's free from hep c. there are two things that make this a life line for a lot of people waiting for kidney transplants. one, there are powerful new drugs available that c cure hepatitis c quickly and with few de effects, untilhis new study followed people who volunteered to take thepa tis c infected kidneys. after treatment, all of the people in the study were free of the virus. >> which was remarkable. >> dr. gilbert and the team at georgetown are helpful about this chance to help more people who need kidney transplants. but before they can do that, more research is needed to

confirm the results of this small study. elliott stevens has all the proof he needs t and he wants spread the word that this option works. >> i just feel grateful to give back what someone had given me, and that's a second chance at life. >> that was doreen gentzler reporting. there's a lot more informatio about kidney transplants on georgetown hospital's website. we posted a linkt a nbcwashington.com for you there, so check it out. veterans struggling to get help tell a news 4 i-team they are often forced to walk long distances just to see theirdo or. it turns out it's because of a huge parking problem at the va's medical center here in d.c. scott macfarlane and the i-team show us how even with an appointment, some military heroes say they can't always get to their care on time. >> reporter: getting most places takes just a little longer for

se oia pointer thesedays. >> when you have a traumatic situation happen to you, you just, you just don't recover as fast as they >>think. eporter: three decades after serving in the u.s. army pointer is fighting another battle. he's recovering from a stroke, and still struggles to use his left arm and leg. you set aside 30 minutes just to find parking. >> just to find parking yes. >> reporter: 30 minutes? >> yes, at least 30 minutes. >> reporter: but getting to his intments recently at the d. cv a. medical center has turned into a lesson in patients. y watched this. does that seem reasonable to you? >> no, not reasonable at all. >> reporr: the trip to the v.a. is a marathon for her husband. we watched him unload the scooakr then m the long trek from the back of the lot just to get inside. >> he's geng to ho fight through the traffic, fight for a parking space, and he's going to have to fht to get in there and go wherever he's going and walk those halls with them. they're long. >> very long. >> reporter: when we first met jonathan warwick, he was trying to navigate over a hill to his

car in e v.a. parking lot. >> he just had two hips replaced. you ha a fracturedspine. did it occur to you, i shouldn't be walking this far to get to my doctor? >> you know, yes, i shouldn't have to be warrilking that far. >> reporter: them news 4 i-t found they had to walk distance after distance for a spot. we measured from the bac row to the front door. mo than 3 1/2 football fields ea way. a third of a mile round trip. construction is underway on a new garage and they hy e to open itrch. but in the meantime, there remains a confusing bottleneck of cars circling for spots. on this day the i-teampa watche ents dumped their cars on a grassyivhill. s forced to unload their scooters before backing into nonaccessible spots. >> sometimes if i have a noon appointment, i would labve here out 8:00. r eporter: 8:00 in the morning? >> yes. >> reporter: many days they tell

us theines spill off the grounds, adding to the congestion, they say, are food ucks blocking drop-off space and back space to the entrance. >> parking access is something we hear about a lot. >> reporter: heather of paralyzed veterans of america say this is a growing complaint at v.a. medical center. >> some veterans may not even be trying to go. >> exactly. >> reporter: internal records obtained by the i-team say they are aware of the problem, calling it an unacceptable deficiency and ident oying dozensf parking issues at medical centers nationwide. >> it is a challenge. >> reporter: the martinsburg v.a. center has upgraded its parking lot and making changes inside to make the building easier to navigate, something jeff millers says takes time. >>e modifying it to m compliant isn't the easiest thing to do and requires major investment. >> reporter: there is this big list of needs nationwide. does that surprise you? >> unfortunately, no. >> reporter: s says the v.a.

needs to be more mindful of the impact construction can haven the veterans. >> sometimes the small things are even more important. >> reporter: no one from d.c.'s medical center would talk to us on camera. they told us the new garage should open as scheduled by march andhey've add shuttle service to help patients who can't find spots in the mehatime. tt shuttle doesn't work for you. >> no, it doesn't work for me because i carry a scooter. >> reporter: leaving some lik sequoia to fend for they have selves in this parking battle. scott macfarlane, news 4 i-team. >> the ieam began asking the v.a. medical center in d.c. about these parking problems back in july. this week the center told us that they added some new shuttle buses to help patients move around that campus. but at medical centers across the country, v.a. records show more than 5,000 accessibility repairs are needed. open tn nbc washingpp and see the i-team series about problems inside the v.a. just get there and search veterans. 100 yearsld ago women ct vote, but one joined the

marines. coming up, we takeou to a new exhibit dedicated to honoring a century of s vice by women in the marine corps.

this week marks the 100-year anniversary of e first female marine. now the stories of women marines are coming to life in a new exhibit in arlington national cemetery. visitors will see portraits and memorandum r memorabilia from different generation ands different wars. >> i hope people will come to dee it for what it is. the history enclo in this building spans not a long period of time, but what we ha accomplished is huge compared to anything else, i think. >> a portion of that exhibit is dedicated to otha may johnson, the first female marine. later this month the women's there's more to life than the climb.

there's the view there's more to life than the climb. you've got to stop and look around a little. come. shed life's layers in asheville. let the child inside you out to play. remember who you are. life is for the taking. not for taking it easy.as ville. discovery, insidand out. z2x55z z16fz

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