Burn Awareness Week is February 1 - 7

Burn injuries are a parent's worst nightmare. Shriners Hospitals for Children wants to help. During the week of February 1 - 7, the hospitals will kick off a year-long campaign focusing on gasoline burn injury prevention.

"Preventing burn injuries and burn awareness education should be an ongoing effort, not just a week-long campaign," said Peter Armstrong, M.D., chief medical officer at Shriners Hospitals for Children. "We are declaring 2009 the year of 'Preventing Gasoline Burn Injuries.'"

The Journal of Burn Care and Rehabilitation estimates that around 10,000 pediatric burn injuries occur annually in just the United States. Dr Armstrong states that many of these injuries are preventable.

What can you do to prevent gasoline burn injuries?

• Lock up any gasoline you have around your home.
• Don't store ANY gasoline inside your home - even in the basement.
• Keep any possible ignition sources as far away from gasoline as possible.
• Gasoline and matches don't mix - teach your children to stay far away from them.
• Download educational information from www.burnawarenessweek.org and share it with your children.

Since 2002, more than 800 kids have been treated at Shriners Hospitals for Children for acute burns from highly flammable materials like gasoline. Your older kids aren't immune. In fact, kids 13 and older are the highest at-risk group for these types of injuries.

Burns are painful and difficult to recover from. No one wants to see their child go through something like this. Please, educate yourself and your children on how to prevent gasoline burn injuries.

Shriners Hospitals for Children encourages parents, teachers, and all members of the community to visit the Burn Awareness site for important safety burn prevention messages, tips, and free educational information (including lesson plans, fact sheets, coloring books, and a DVD for teens).

Image: Anthony the Fire Ant, Shriners Hospital for Children

by Becky Scott
Contributing Editor