US Mum Urges for Gun Safety Awareness After Losing Son

Although mass shootings get more attention in the press, a US child’s wellbeing, and family wellness, is far more at risk in the home. A 14-year-old boy in Massachusetts learned this lesson the hard way when he accidentally shot his neighbour; 12-year-old Brain Crowell.

Brian’s mother, Ann Marie Crowell, who spoke to the child and his mother after the incident, explained, ‘He was going, “Click, click, click,”’ and pretending to shoot the gun, not knowing that the gun was loaded. ‘But there was one last bullet. It went into Brian’s neck.’ According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 800 children under 14 were killed in gun accidents from 1999 to 2010.

Since losing her son, Crowell has devoted her life to gun safety and attended the State of the Union address in January as President Barack Obama’s guest. She noted, ‘I had never thought to ask about guns in the home,’ and now urges parents to ask whether there are guns in the home before sending their kids for play dates. ‘If I owned a gun, I wouldn’t be mad that someone asked,’ Crowell assures. ‘If you were going over for a play date to a house with a swimming pool, wouldn’t you want them to lock the pool gate? As a parent, you want to do anything you need to do to protect your child.’

Thomas McInerny, president of The American Academy of Paediatrics recommends that paediatricians ask about guns in the home when taking a patient’s history. He commented, ‘It’s no different than when we ask about safety seats in the car or bicycle helmets, or the temperature of your hot water heater. We want to keep children safe. And most parents say they appreciate it.’

Gun safety awareness is also supported by the National Rifle Association, who run an Eddie Eagle GunSafe Programme in which 18 million children have participated. Spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said that the program teaches kids, ‘If you see a gun, STOP! Don’t Touch. Leave the Area. Tell an Adult.’ He added, ‘The one thing we always recommend is education. You have to teach your children that guns aren’t toys.’

Categories: Awareness, Children, click click, crowell, Gun Safety, guns, Home, Safety, safety awareness, US

How to Protect Your Child against Medication Poisoning

Your prescription medications may do wonders for your wellness, but you may be putting your child’s wellbeing at risk. This is according to a new study, published in the June 3rd online edition of Paediatrics, which found that, the number of adults being prescribed medications has risen, the number of children being accidentally poisoned by prescription drugs has also grown.

The research ream examined data from the National Medicare Surveys to find out which medications were most commonly prescribed to adults, and then compared this to the National Poison Data system’s information on child poisonings. According to Lead researcher Dr. Lindsey Burghardt, from the division of emergency medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital, ‘We found between 2000 and 2009 [that] rates of paediatric exposure to adult medications were increasing.’

Over 60,000 children are evaluated in emergency departments for “unintentional medication exposures” every year. Of these children, 12% end up hospitalised. Doctors are trying to do more to prevent this damage to family wellness, but, as Burghardt explains, ‘Despite all these precautions that have been put in place to try to prevent these poisonings in kids the problem persists. In fact, the number of poisonings has been increasing.’ Clearly, you need to take medication safety into your own hands.

In partnership with PROTECT, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have outlined six things that all parents should do to protect their children:

1. Keep your medications in a place your children can’t reach, even if they stand on a chair.

2. While it’s more convenient to leave out medications if, for example, you have a painful injury that makes it hard for you to move, you still need to put medicine away every time you use it.

3. Always double check that the safety cap is locked.

4. Educate your children about medication safety, the health risks of taking someone else’s medication, and how they should never take medicine by themselves.

5. Ask any house guests to practise medication safety.

6. Be prepared in case of an emergency. The NHS Direct 24 helpline is 0845 4647 or 111 – make sure you have it written down next to all your landline phones and programmed into all your mobiles.

Categories: Poisoning, prescription drugs, safety awareness