Category: Safe Kid Missoula

Many parents misuse their child restraints and need help to get it right. That is where a Child Passenger Safety Technician comes in handy.

Have YOU ever wanted to help parents and caregivers to learn how to install their car seat and/or booster seats? Have you heard about events where folks get one-on-one personalized instruction on how to safely use their child’s car seat? You can join the team of over 43,000 nationally certified Child Passenger Safety Technicians (CPST) and be that community advocate or resource in your community!

As a CPS technician, you will put your knowledge to work through a variety of activities, including community presentations and/or child safety seat checks where parents and caregivers receive education and direct assistance with the proper use of child restraint systems and seat belts.

Safe Kids Worldwide has a website that gives individuals detailed information on how to become a technician, how to find a technician, and the Ultimate Care Seat Guide. In addition, this website provides resources for those who are techs. Learn more at https://cert.safekids.org/.

As an adult, we walk into a bathroom and turn on the tub or shower, arrange a bath mat, get out a towel and adjust the temperature of the water. Babies and young children do not have the skills to get the bathroom and shower/tub ready for bath time thus we adults must childproof that room for them.

One of the easiest ways to avoid bathroom injuries is to make sure the bathroom is not accessible to young children. Whether it is installing a latch on the door, where they cannot reach it or making sure that locks can be unlocked from the outside of the door, you can take preventative steps to reduce injuries. This is especially true as, according to the Center for Disease Control, drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional injury death worldwide, accounting for 7 percent of all injury-related deaths and the highest drowning rates are children 1-4 years of age.

The author of this bog post wanted to share tips from the web page of healthychildren.org. These include:

• As children can drown in just a few inches of water, it is important to always supervise them, always. Even if the telephone rings or someone is at the door, make sure to take the child with you. You can always go back to bath time, if needed.
• Water Temperature is important to be the proper temperature to ensure that children to not get scalded. It is recommended that the water heater should not be more than 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Before placing the child in the water, place a wrist or elbow in the water to ensure that it feels warm, not hot, to the touch.
• Slips and Falls can happen at any time, but by preparing the room first, those chances can be reduced or prevented. Install no-slip strips on the bottom of the bathtub, place a cushioned cover on the water faucet, close the toilet seat and install a toilet lid lock.
• Medicine and toiletries should always be stored up, away, out of sight and in a locked cabinet. Many types of child safety devices are available if you do not have a locking cabinet.
• Electric appliances, especial hair dryers and razors can be a hazard, even if there is not water around.

Would you bring a baby home from the hospital without a car seat or have your child ride a bike without a helmet? This blog post provides information about how to protect your children from another potential safety risk:  protecting your children from TV and furniture tip-overs.

“From 2017 through 2019, an average of more than 11,000 children per year were treated in hospital ERs for injuries related to tip-over incidents, according to CPSC. An overwhelming majority, or 79%, of the fatalities were kids younger than six, and 75% of the deaths involved a TV”, per the article from CBS News, found at    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/furniture-tipover-deaths-2000-2019/. 

Did you know that every 3 weeks, a child dies from a television tipping over?  Each day, ten kids go to the ER because of a TV tip-over.  Per information shared by Safe Kids Worldwide, there are several simple ways that parents and caregivers can help protect them, so they do not become a statistic. 

1. Secure TVs. Mount flat-panel TVs to the wall. Place older, box-style TVs (CRTs) on low, stable furniture that can hold the weight. Mount flat screen TVs to the wall. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions to ensure you protect your wall and have a secure fit. If you have a heavier, box-style cathode ray tube (CRT) TV place it on a low, stable piece of furniture that can hold the TV’s size and weight.
2. Attach furniture to the wall. Use anti-tip brackets, braces or wall straps to secure furniture to the wall. Install stops on dresser drawers to keep them from being pulled all the way out. Use anti-tip brackets, braces or wall straps to secure furniture to the wall. Install stops on dresser drawers to keep them from being pulled all the way out. Multiple open drawers can cause the weight to shift, making it easier for a dresser to tip over.
3. Rearrange household items. Store heavy objects on lower shelves or in lower drawers. Avoid placing remote controls, toys or other items in places where kids might be tempted to climb up or reach for them. Keep heavier items on lower shelves and in lower drawers. Avoid placing remote controls, food, toys or other items in places where kids might be tempted to climb up or reach for them.
4. Recycle old TVs. To find a location that safely and easily recycles unwanted TVs, go to  www.GreenerGadgets.org.

Can you imagine it?  You start up the grill, run into the house to grab the hamburgers and hotdogs and then you hear the scream of pain?  I heard it just last year.  Our four-year-old grandson was playing in a different part of the yard with the dogs, and I did not think he could even get to the grill in the matter of seconds it took for me to run into the kitchen.  Luckily, he only hurt the palm of his hand and immediately took his hand away from the hot surface.  So many others are not so lucky. 

Every year, according to the National Fire Protection Association, “An average of 19,700 patients visit emergency rooms across the country with grilling-related injuries. Forty-eight percent suffered thermal burns, and 4 in 10 of these thermal burn patients are children under the age of 5.”

So, how do we keep our kiddos safe?  Here are just a few safety tips:

• Set up your grill on a flat, sturdy surface at least 3 feet from any structure. 
• Keep the grill lid open. A closed lid can cause gas to accumulate, which can lead to an explosion when you light the grill.
• National Fire Protection Association guidelines recommend storing propane tanks in an upright position at least 10 feet from doors, windows, or dryer vents, and at least 20 feet from your home’s air intake vents. Do not store propane in a garage.
• Grill manufacturers Kingsford and Char-Broil both recommend closing the lid to suffocate the embers and leaving the ashes to cool for 48 hours. 
• Gather your food, platters, utensils, and other grilling materials before you begin cooking.

You may have seen postings on social media about “dry drowning,” stories about kids who seemed perfectly fine after getting out of a pool, ocean or lake and then, suddenly, as much as a day later, end up with breathing difficulties and die.

It’s terrifying – but the fact is that this kind of sudden “dry drowning” with no prior symptoms just doesn’t occur.

“No drowning experts believe this happens,” says Dr. Linda Quan, expert advisor on water safety to Safe Kids Worldwide.

In fact, most medical authorities—including such organizations as the American Red Cross, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American College of Emergency Physicians—discourage the use of the terms “dry drowning.” If a child seems completely normal after leaving the water and has no symptoms at all, that child did not drown.

That’s not to suggest that problems can’t arise after a child has left the water. They can – but they just don’t come out of nowhere!

Here’s what parents need to know about possible drowning dangers:

• If a child has minimal symptoms after being rescued—think the kind of sputtering and coughing he or she might experience after water “goes down the wrong pipe” at the dinner table—that child should be fine but should still be observed by an attentive caretaker.
• If that child gets worse within 2 to 3 hours—i.e., develops coughing, breathing difficulties, sleepiness, or confusion—he or she needs to get immediate medical attention.
• If after a water rescue, a child has an excessive or prolonged cough, fast or hard breathing, or is not breathing normally or “acting right,” caretakers should seek immediate medical attention.

Of course, the key to preventing these and other worrisome episodes is to keep water safety top of mind this summer. For tips on making sure your child stays safe in and around water, check out safekids.org/watersafety.