Childhood Injury Prevention Handbook

Childhood Injury Prevention Handbook

A MESSAGE TO PARENTS

Injuries pose the greatest threat to your child’s health. Each year, more children lose their lives to injuries from guns, car crashes, choking, burns, falls, drowning and poisoning than from all contagious diseases combined! But that’s just part of the problem. For every child who dies from an injury, 50 more end up in the hospital, and 1,000 need to go to the emergency room. The good news is, there’s hope. Childhood injuries aren’t random accidents— they usually happen because of things that can be anticipated and avoided. We know that injury prevention efforts work! For example, thanks to improvements in car seats, laws regulating car seats/seat belts, and widespread educational efforts, we now see fewer child deaths from car crashes. While we’ve had some successes, there are still challenges. Sadly, injuries from guns have become the #1 cause of death for kids recently. It’s really important for all families to secure their guns to keep them out of the hands of children. This handbook has information for different ages, so you can learn how to keep your child safe at each stage of their development. We hope you read this and share what you learn with others.

By working together and using safety tips, we can make a safer world where all kids can grow up healthy, happy and injury free.

Thank you for helping us keep Alabama’s children safe!

Kathy Monroe, M.D. | Michele Nichols, M.D. | Jennifer McCain, M.D.

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