National Burn Awareness Week

Firefighters For Healing takes fire prevention very seriously and our volunteers pick up tips every time they attend an event or share our social posts.

Recently, our friend and loyal volunteer Lindsey was moving a steaming pot of noodles from the burner to the sink. In that second her back was turned, her 2 year old reached for bananas that were near the stove top and placed her hand on the burner that was still hot. It happened in a flash! The scream. The jump back. The gut reaction to rescue. They raced to the emergency room. Here is what Lindsey shared.

“I know accidents happen and I know kids are fast but here is what I could have done differently to avoid this awful burn injury:

• I was using the front burner that is in reach of Ruby’s tiny little hands. Back burners are always best.

• I will store bananas and other items she reaches for or accesses often to a new location that is not near the stove.”

Things could have been much worse. They left ER that day with a nice bandage over 2nd degree burns to Ruby’s palm, fingers & thumb. Distracting her so she did not remove the bandages was paramount. She rocked those bandages and bandage changes for 12 days. Finding long sleeve shirts that would fit over her bandages was difficult. She was a trooper but the wrapped hand did disrupt their daily routine. The discomfort at night required extra snuggles to help her fall asleep.

We are so happy to report that Ruby shed her bandages just before February 1 & has minor scarring. Sound the alarm, it is back to regularly scheduled programming of bath time, puzzles and coloring books. To learn more about fire prevention for children of all ages, visit firefightersforhealing.org/resources