April 13th, 2020: Falls in the Home

This week, we will be talking about falls that occur in the home. Falls are the leading cause of non-fatal injury for kids in the United States—nearly 8,000 kids are treated for a fall-related injury in the emergency room every day. Right now, while families are in their homes more than ever due to COVID-19, it’s important to address a few of the most common ways that children can fall so that parents can make their homes safer. Here are some links to resources to help get you started.

 

COVID-19 Quick Tip

Over the last few weeks, some emergency departments have been seeing an increase in burn injuries primarily occurring in the kitchen. Please share these resources with your peers and your community to raise awareness on this emerging issue.


Action of the Week

Every Monday, we are promoting a new action that families can take to keep their children safer while social distancing. This week, we are asking families to complete a household safety checklist. These checklists are helpful in identifying hazards in your home that you might not notice. KidsHealth has a checklist for nearly every room in the house and even has one for hazards outside of your home: https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/household-checklist.html

 
 
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Coming Up

Next week’s newsletter will focus on National Youth Sports Safety Month (April 20 - 26), with an emphasis on backyard sports and training at home, and the week after that we’ll be talking about National Playground Safety Week (April 27 - May 1). If you or your organization has any materials or events about these topics that you would like us to promote to our members, please email info@preventchildinjury.org.


In Case You Missed It…

Last week was National Public Health Week, and there were several events that encouraged discussion from individuals and organizations across disciplines. On Monday, April 6th, the NPHW Forum: "NPHW @ 25: The Future of Public Health is Now" discussed public health’s strides in the last 25 years, the challenges of eliminating health disparities, and the imperative to create a more just world. A recording will be posted soon here: http://nphw.org/events/nphw-forum

Prevent Child Injury participated in a Twitter chat to “discuss all things public health, celebrate everything public health has accomplished and talk about where the movement is going” on Wednesday, April 8th. To see the conversation, find @NPHW on Twitter.