Julie Kenneally is not a mom yet, but when the time comes, she’ll know how to protect her kids from danger:
Working at Safe Kids as a pre-mom has opened my eyes to the shocking world of child injury. I’ve worked my way through a bunch of topics – some of which I have a general knowledge of like sports safety and medication safety; and others risk areas I didn’t even know were a hazard.
While reflecting on the past year, it occurred to me just how much knowledge I have gained and how lucky I am that I work in a job that teaches me new things every day.
So here are the top 10 shocking facts I’ve learned in my first year at Safe Kids.
Kenneally shows us that parents can’t be too careful:
10. More children ages 5 to 14 are seen in emergency rooms for injuries related to biking than any other sport.
More than football. More than soccer. Please, wear helmets!
And:
5. 86% of emergency room visits for medication poisoning are due to the child getting into adult medicine.
Yikes. I have pain killers in my purse right now. Did I put away that cough medicine last night? This is really something I will need to work on when I have children, or have children visit my house.
And:
2. Every 10 days a child dies from a TV tipping over.
What?? How awful! Before working here, I had no idea this was even an issue. This is the one fact that I tell everyone I know.
(PediaBlog on TV tip-overs here.) Last one:
1. Preventable injuries are the number one killer of kids in the U.S. and around the world a child dies every 30 seconds from a preventable injury.
No way. This can’t be true. What about disease? What about starvation? What about those commercials I see on TV that make me cry? This fact is mind-blowing. Preventable injuries are preventable! We can change this.
Awareness is the first step towards change. Let us all resolve to make 2014 a year where we put children first with every decision we make, and with everything we do — at home, in our communities, in our national policies, on our planet. Let’s make the world a safer place for everyone.
Read the rest of Julie Kenneally’s blog post at Safe Kids Worldwide.