As the protectors of children, we worry constantly about their safety. We devote time in our homes, our schools and our places of worship to teach them to exercise caution when approached by strangers. We fret about them getting out of our sight. We worry about the external world destroying ours by hurting our children. The reality is, however, that most childhood injuries and deaths are not due to the external forces we fear. Rather, they are accidents lurking in our everyday life that pose the greatest risk.
Annually, more than 12,000 childhood deaths are directly attributable to accidents such as drowning, falls, poisoning and road traffic. These sorts of injuries have been the leading cause of death for more than a decade. In addition, another 9.2 million children are seen in emergency departments annually for treatment of significant but not deadly injuries. That equates to about 8,000 per day.
[See: The 11 Most Dangerous Places in Your Home for Babies and Small Kids.]
Deeper analysis of these statistics shows that the types of injuries are clearly age-related. In babies less than a year of age, suffocation or choking tends to be the leading cause of death. In the 1- to 4-year-old age group, drownings are the most common accident, leading to serious bodily harm at a rate of about three per day. In both of these age ranges, there are additional deaths and injury due to poisoning; about two children die this way per day, and another 300 are sent to emergency departments for treatment of ingestion. In the oldest pediatric age group, motor vehicle-related accidents top the list.
Interestingly, about half of all these accidents occur at home. They top abuse in incidence and certainly don’t get the attention of non-accidental trauma cases. But they’re tragic just the same. So why do these accidents happen in the place that we think children are safest — in their very own home? Is it that we don’t recognize the dangers as well as we can imagine the villains from the outside world? Is it because we don’t see them on television or in movies? Do we think we’re super safe because we put outlet covers on the walls and locks on our cabinets? Are we more complacent when we’re at home and surrounded by family? The answer is probably yes, in some combination, to all these.
Recognition of the risks of accidental trauma and death among children has occurred in the last three decades. The best case in point is in regard to seatbelt usage and car seats. Intense focus on this effort from a multidisciplinary effort has shepherded great results. In the first nine years of this century alone, deaths from car accidents in children decreased 43 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It was a total culture change, requiring time and the concerted efforts of pediatricians, child safety experts and advocates and legislative partners. It’s a great example of the “it takes a village” philosophy.
[Read: Car Seat Safety: Avoid These Common Mistakes.]
Overall, the CDC reports a decrease in accidental childhood deaths of about 29 percent from 2006 to 2016. Part of this success is owed to the launch of the National Action Plan for Child Injury Prevention. This is a multifaceted program focusing on awareness and prevention strategies. A toolkit for home visitation to ensure a safe environment is available for ages from birth to 5 years. Several communication guides and public service announcements are accessible on a multitude of accidental injuries, including safe sleep and water safety.
In addition to the CDC offerings, there are many opportunities for caregivers to extend their safety efforts in the home and beyond. There are free online courses that can be accessed through cdc.gov, for example. Community partners are also instrumental in efforts around injury prevention. Kohl’s car seat program and BMW’s driving school for teens have touched millions of young people over the years with regard to motor vehicle safety. And many children’s hospitals have safety stores where childproofing items are readily available at a reduced cost.
These are valiant efforts that have certainly shown improvement in survivorship of children into adulthood. But for 12,000 children per year, it wasn’t enough. In one of the most developed countries in the world, we continue to lose children to accidental deaths. Perhaps familiarity and grassroots vigilance is possible through these direct interventions:
— Practice safe sleep with infants by placing them on their backs, removing any loose items in cribs and avoiding co-sleeping.
— To prevent infant falls, no walkers should be used, stairs should have appropriate baby gates and crib settings for mattress height should be followed.
— All pools and bodies of water should be fenced, with personal flotation devices at the ready for rescue. Children should be enrolled in swimming lessons, and continuous vigilance by an adult is required.
— Bike helmets and seat belts are non-negotiable, as are appropriate car and booster seats.
— The number for poison control should be posted on the phone.
— Home safety such as smoke detectors and other items should be obtained from local hardware or children’s hospital safety stores; water temperature in the home should not exceed 130 degrees Fahrenheit.
— Parents should consider defensive driving school training for teens on top of the minimal driver’s education requirements.
[See: The 5 Latest Poison Control Threats Kids Face.]
We’re an extremely well-resourced country. We need to embrace a grassroots effort to ensure we’re all vigilant to safeguard the children in our community, whether they live in our house or another. We lose too many little lives to disease and illness despite the treatment effort to cure. We shouldn’t allow victims to preventable injury. After all, as Nelson Mandela stated, there can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.
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We Must Stop Letting Our Children Fall Victim to Preventable Injury originally appeared on usnews.com
