2011 Burn Awareness Week Campaign February 6-12, 2011

Shriners Hospitals for Children® Emphasizes Prevention, during Burn Awareness Week

Burn prevention is a key endeavor of Shriners Hospitals for Children®, which is why the health care system began its Burn Awareness campaigns more than 20 years ago.
Safety Begins at Home
Our homes are our personal “safe havens,” where we can relax, be ourselves, and enjoy time with our families. However, without some attention and awareness, our homes can also be dangerous places, especially for children.
Consider these facts:

• Every day, across the U.S., hundreds of children are taken to emergency rooms for treatment of scald burns caused by contact with hot liquids, steam or foods. 
• Approximately 65 percent of children under age 4 hospitalized for burn injuries were scalded by hot liquids.
• Approximately 16,000 children under age 5 are treated in U.S. hospitals for scald burns annually.
• Ninety-five percent of scalds occur in residences.
• Fire causes the death of more than 600 children ages 14 and under each year, and injures about 3,000 more.
• Nearly 50 percent of children injured in fires or fire-related incidents are under age 5.
• More than 60 percent of residential fires that cause the death of a child occur in homes without smoke detectors.

Many of these injuries could have been easily prevented.
Clearly, burn awareness and prevention is critically important to the safety and well-being of everyone, especially children.
Shriners Hospitals for Children®, which operates the only freestanding hospitals dedicated to the treatment of pediatric burns, is committed to decreasing the number of preventable pediatric burn injuries by raising awareness and providing educational materials, especially to parents and families. The health care system uses Burn Awareness Week (the first full week of February every year) to kick off its year-long awareness campaign.
The 2011 campaign, Burn Awareness: Safety Begins at Home, emphasizes the importance of observing basic precautions to keep everyone – especially children – safe at home. 
Keeping children safe from burn injuries at home requires constant vigilance, including making sure to have proper warning equipment, such as smoke detectors, and keeping them in good working order. It is also critically important to have an escape plan in the event a fire does occur.
Providing Information to Raise Awareness
Shriners Hospitals for Children offers a variety of complimentary burn prevention materials, including a coloring book, posters, fact sheets and brochures. To view these materials and place an order,  For more information, contact the public relations department at Shriners International Headquarters by sending an e-mail to shrinepr@shrinenet.org, or calling (813) 281-8162.