10 days before her first birthday a little girl was singing and playing in a friend’s living room. A family friend was watching her because her parents were out of town. This living room was on the smaller side but had a gas fireplace at the center. Because of the cold weather, the fireplace had been turned on. The little girl suddenly tripped falling right towards the hot fireplace. She stuck her hands out on the glass fireplace door reacting to her tumble. Her tiny hands had touched the glass just long enough for a severe burn reaction. Once the parents were made aware, the little girl was rushed to the emergency room. Her hands were red, swollen and blisters started to appear and it became worse. They wrapped her tiny hands in bandages, and it became clear the importance that fireplace safety holds. Fireplaces are at an easily accessible height to kids and many fireplaces don’t have proper screens in place for protection. Kids around fireplaces come with their own set of dangerous possibilities. Even after the fireplace is turned off it still continues to stay hot. In fact, the glass surface of a gas fireplace can get up to between 500-1,000 degrees and that temperature can cause third-degree burns in less than a second. It would be beneficial to contact the manufacturer to get your own safety screen, further preventing your child or another child’s potential injury. This keeps everyone at a safer distance from possible accidents.
Author: Brenda Plascencia
Gun Safety is no joke by D.B.
I never thought that I needed to worry about gun safety. I thought that my dad has always been so very careful. I learned that although he is very safe, keeps his guns locked up and unloaded, there is always that one time when things happen that you don’t mean to happen. I remember just hanging out with my girlfriend – now wife – in my room one day, just playing video games. My dad had gotten a new pistol and was cleaning it. I asked to see it and he showed it to me. As he walked into the room, he tripped on the edge of the sheet and accidentally pulled the trigger. The boom of the gun going off filled the room and my stepmom screamed. My girlfriend was in shock as we all looked at the hole in the wall – the gun had gone off and for some reason the gun had one bullet left. Dad swears he had unloaded it but he had left one in the chamber on accident. He had been cleaning it so the safety was off. I remember looking at the hole and thinking if I or my girlfriend had been moving, we would have been shot, in my own bedroom. My dad is the safest person I know. He keeps his guns locked up in a gun safe – he stores the ammo in a separate area away from the guns – he taught me gun safety from early on. All that yet he almost shot a human being, and I will never forget the lesson I learned that day – always, always, double check the safety is on and the ammo is removed. Instead of spending time as a family we could have then been planning a funeral.
Generational Learning by J.G.
I grew up listening to my mom tell me to “be safe” and “buckle up.” I thought that she was just being overprotective and did not want to always listen to her. As I grew up, I learned the hard way that seatbelts do save lives. I am now 26 and a father to a four-year-old boy. I have been in 6 car crashes and my son, believe it or not, has been in 4 – YES, 4. I remember the day when my girlfriend and I were traveling home in the morning when a car pulled across multiple lines of traffic and we t-boned them. They did not adhere to the stop sign and we never saw it coming. My son was in her belly and I near true fear. Later on in his life, we hit a deer and totaled our truck, we got hit by a car turning left – against the turn light – which totaled our car and then my son was in the truck when my mom and stepdad were rear-ended. Each time, my son and I walked away. We were “safe” as we had “buckled up.” I am thankful that I listened to my mom and that my son was also safe, each crash.
Medicine Safety Presentation with the Boys and Girls Club
Safe Kids Missoula visited the Boys and Girls Club in Lolo yesterday afternoon to give a presentation about medicine safety. The goal was to spread the message of medicine safety in the home. To start off, the kids played a game where they had to guess which bags were candy and which bags were medicine. There were a few, even for the adults, that were tricky to get correct! It is hard to tell the difference sometimes and until side by side, you cannot tell how much they look alike. They learned why it is important to properly store these items, keeping medicine up and away, and considering where kids might look. We also defined what medicine is to help them understand the difference between over the counter and prescription medicine. We asked them to model good behavior and use medicine responsibly, especially around other children such as a little brother and sister. For wrap up, we played a few more games and left Lolo with the kids’ voices singing the Poison Help Number (1-800-222-1222) to a certain tune, ensured they wouldn’t forget that one.
Almost a Christmas Disaster
It was Christmas day for Ali and her family and one of the gifts that she received was a dirt bike for her and her brother. This dirt bike had three wheels and was able to go really fast. Excited to try it out, they all took turns riding it around. Soon, Ali’s turn arrived, but she had never driven a bike with a hand throttle. She started to pick up speed and her family shouted, telling her to brake but she thought the throttle was the brake. Suddenly a piece of metal on the side cut her leg as she zoomed by it. She still has that scar today. Finally, she hit a wall, and fell, knocking her unconscious. The helmet she was wearing actually cracked open. They rushed her to the emergency room to see if she had a concussion. Thankfully she walked away without one. Ali and her family know that it is important to be aware of your surroundings and to be confident and in control. She knows what could of happened if she wasn’t wearing a properly fitted helmet, and that Christmas day could have looked much different.
Saved by the belt times six!
It was a day like any other. I was finishing up work, was 28 weeks pregnant and was looking forward to a quick jaunt home, some dinner and then to relax. It was not to be. My husband picked me up and we were taking the “back road” home, following our friends’ truck. Little did we know that the newly graveled road would have so much high-flying dust and when they blew a tire and were forced to stop, it would also mask their car. At the last minute, after cresting a hill, we saw that they had pulled over but not off the road and we could do nothing but swerve and try to miss them. We did not. We hit our front bumper on their back bumper and when the side panel became impacted, were flipped three times. That is a moment I will remember forever – the feeling of flying in the air, over and over. We came to rest upside down. I was wearing my seatbelt so at that time, I was then suspended in the air. I remember hitting the seatbelt button and panicking because I could not get out of the car. I do not remember much after that until I saw my mom in the hospital, and she told me that due to the seatbelt holding me in and keeping me safe, I was now in labor. It was a scary 24 hours, but we were safe – my baby and me. A few months later, I would greet my baby who was safe and healthy. I have been in 6 car accidents in my life and I have not caused even 1 of them. My son has been in 6 and my four-year-old grandson has been in 4. I know that that day and each day since I have been safe because I wore my seatbelt. I know that 3 generations are alive and safe because WE wear our seatbelts. KB