Quiet Promotes Healing

Did you know that hospitals are graded on the issue of noise in surveys about patient satisfaction conducted by Medicare? That’s how serious an issue it is. St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center in Syracuse, New York, installed its first Yacker Tracker in 2007 in its cardiac care unit. They saw patient satisfaction increase in a matter of months. The hospital smartly synchronized the overhead lighting to the Yacker Tracker, so when the device indicates that the acceptable level of noise has been reached, the lights dim.

At the time of installation, Rita Romano, then the director of environmental services said, "We recognize that a healing environment is a quiet environment. Patients in a quieter environment heal better." Romano went on to say, “Staff may become distracted or have trouble hearing orders. Noise in the environment can contribute to medical errors."

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association points out other dangers of too much noise. It can increase blood pressure, harm a developing fetus and make it difficult to sleep. We all know that even healthy people don’t perform as well with a lack of sleep. There are so many articles and studies about sleep deprivation and all of them mention serious health effects.

The Yacker Tracker can be indispensable in healthcare environments. If you consider a loud paging system, or intercoms, or the raised voices of some staff members and visitors, or carts rolling down a corridor, or even laughter coming from groups gathering in hallways, you’ll understand how noise can become a very real distraction. It’s the last thing anyone needs. It has also been pointed out that patients don’t like to hear staff having personal conversations. It makes them feel as if they are not a top priority. 

Please see our Yacker Trackers to choose the one that’s right for you and your work environment. If you think about the unwanted noise in your daily life, you will probably thing of other uses for a Yacker Tracker. We have thought of some of them, too. Yacker Tracker Uses will take you to our Idea Page. If you click on our Blog you will see even more ideas. (We never stop thinking about you!)

We hope that we can be of help. Everyone is entitled to some peace of mind. And that’s usually accomplished in a quieter setting.

To your health!

Google | Facebook | Twitter | Blog

Yacker Tracker™
by AGI – Attention Getters, Inc™
Yacker Tracker Website

#yackertracker
#originalyackertracker
#yackertrackerdeluxe
#hospitalnoisemonitor
#medicalyackertracker

The DEMAND and uses for Yacker Tracker is growing in ways we never imagined!

Users of Yacker Trackers are growing, and in ways we never thought. Yacker Tracker started out as being a simple tool to help teachers gain noise control in their classrooms. Yacker Tracker is now sold in almost every country in the world and used in such imaginative ways, some frankly, never expected. Exciting!

In schools they've had great success with thousands of classrooms using them to monitor sound, but school employees are an imaginative lot. For example, schools for the deaf are using them as a visual reminder to students and school cafeterias are using them for group noise control. Speech teachers and theatrical companies are using them to measure projection and even Toast Masters have used them for both projection and length of speech as well.

Of course it's been well known that hospitals are using them not only in their nurse’s stations and waiting rooms, but did you also know that they are being used in their operating rooms as well?

Business offices have started to use them to quiet overly noisy workers. Railroad lines are using them to test the effects of noise on certain towns and housing tracks. Some city council chambers have used them to monitor the length of speaker's presentations and Trader Joe's have used them as a decoration for themes in their stores.

How will you use your Yacker Tracker? Set your imagination free and be sure to let us know in what ways you use the Yacker Tracker. And, if you'd like to join in and let us know you have used Yacker Tracker in some innovative and/or unusual ways you use it, please contact us and tell us all about it. Send us a picture and we will post it!!

Google+
Facebook

Twitter

Yacker Tracker™
by AGI – Attention Getters, Inc™
Yacker Tracker Website

#yackertracker
#originalyackertracker
#yackertrackerdeluxe
#creativeusesforyackertracker
#imaginativeusesforyackertracker

Yacker Tracker: Part of Classroom Control Video

This teacher shot this video for her students. She incorporates the Yacker Tracker as part of a behavior management program, including a reward. How do you use your Yacker Tracker?



Contact us with any questions you might have as we would love to hear from you!

And, if you'd like to join in and add your testimonial about how using the Yacker Tracker has helped you, or some innovative and/or unusual ways you use it, please contact us and tell us all about it.

Google+

Facebook

Twitter

#yackertracker
#yackertrackerclassroomcontrol
#yackertrackerintheclassroom
#yackertrackerstudentvideo

Teachers using Yacker Tracker around the world!

A few of the videos we have found published.

Mrs. Hofer brings back an old friend… The Yacker Tracker!

Published by MrsBlairClark

This teacher goes over the features of the Yacker Tracker and demonstrates it live in his classroom.

Published by Martin Yaney

If you have an interesting story, images or video about how Yacker Tracker has helped you, or some innovative and/or unusual ways you use it, please use the Contact Form on our website and tell us all about it!

#yackertracker
#yackertrackerdemonstration
#yackertrackerintheclassroom
#yackertrackerfeatures

We would like to hear from you!

We know Yacker Tracker has become a part of many people's daily lives and touch so many over the years. Now we'd like to hear from you. Please share your story with us about how Yacker Tracker has helped you. Whether you've used it in a unique way or not, we want you to share your success story with us. Please go to the contact form on our website to post your Testimonial or post below! We will post it on the Yacker Tracker Blog and on the Testimonials page on the Yacker Tracker website.

Here’s a testimonial from a few years back…

“Hello, I just wanted to let you know that we are a family of 9 with 7 adopted children. Most of them have ADHD, ADD, ODD, PTSD, and attachment issues. One of my children screams every night before bed, another cries like an infant if angry and another just can't control there noise levels. The Yacker Tracker had made everyone in the home aware of the noise they each make and has helped them to gain additional control. I thought you should know that a family can use this too. :) Thank You” -Janelle Mom

Again, if you'd like to join in and add your testimonial about how using the Yacker Tracker has helped you, or some innovative and/or unusual ways you use it, please use the Contact Form on our website and tell us all about it!

#yackertracker
#yackertrackerhistory
#originalyackertracker
#agiattentiongetter
#deluxeyackertracker
#testimonial

A Brief History of the Yacker Tracker

It was one of the toughest courses the university had for its 5th year graduate students. The course, for teaching majors, was Classroom Management, and is arguably one of the toughest tasks that teachers face: techniques of keeping your classroom calm and quiet for appropriate learning environments.

Then in 2001, the Yacker Tracker won the new product ‘Best of Show’ award from the NSSEA (National School Supply and Equipment Association)

In 2003, Fran introduced the Deluxe Yacker Tracker featuring a handy remote control.

A few years later in 2011, the Yacker Tracker was redesigned to be more efficient, featuring the phrase “Quiet Please” in 7 languages due in large part to the Yacker Tracker’s success with hospitals and medical offices, and also partially due to new OSHA requirements.

The year was 1999 and Fran Rebello, then a teacher at the university, came up with a rather ingenious idea, an invention known as TAG, short for The Attention-Getter. When she combined that with another teacher who was using a sound meter, the original Yacker Tracker was born.

2012 – Testimonial

“Your contribution to our school has impacted the behavior of over 500 students. The Yacker Tracker has helped give the students a better self-monitoring tool during lunch time. Students are able to see the lights go off when they are getting too loud and then they quiet down. There is a reward system in place for when the students do well and don't trigger the red light to go off too many times. The primary grades have been extremely successful since the implementation of the Yacker Tracker and continue to do well. The intermediate grades are still getting used to the Yacker Tracker. Thank you so much for supporting our cause. Because of you, our students are eating lunch and are better prepared for the classroom.”

With gratitude,
Ms. Warrington

Then in 2013, the Yacker Tracker was used in a television documentary on how loud train whistles were at different distances, in other words, just how many miles away a person could hear train whistles and how loud they were at those distances.

In 2015, the Yacker Tracker was included in the book Mastering Leadership: A Vital Resource for Health Care Organizations, as a tool to measure and self-monitor noise levels in hospital waiting rooms, nurses stations, and surgery rooms.

Again, if you'd like to join in and add your testimonial about how using the Yacker Tracker has helped you, or some innovative and/or unusual ways you use it, please contact us and tell us all about it.

There's much more to this story that we will bring you in upcoming posts.

The one and only original Yacker Tracker by AGI Attention-Getters, Inc!

Yacker Tracker is one of the most original, kid-friendly noise control products that have ever been invented.

The familiar traffic light signal design is put to appropriate use in measuring the amount of sound in a classroom, hospital patient hallways, just about anywhere.

You can find the Yacker Tracker in schools, hospitals, and even in a mine in Australia. Over the next few months we will tell you a little bit about the history of Yacker Tracker, the background of its' creator, Fran Rebello, and even some testimonials from people who use it. On that note, if you'd like to join in and add your testimonial about how using the Yacker Tracker has helped you, or some innovative and/or unusual ways you use it, please contact us and tell us all about it.

So hang out with us as we continue this fascinating and inspiring tale throughout the year!

#yackertracker
#originalyackertracker
#deluxeyackertracker
#noisecontrolsolution
#noisemonitor