Articles Posted in Children’s Injuries

It is every parent’s worst nightmare: getting the call that your child was injured while under the watch of caregiver.

For Shaunna Broadway of Oklahoma, she was stunned to learn that the daycare facility she sends her sons, Connor, 7, and Trae, 5, to had taken the boys to a splash park and allowed them to play outside for hours, without sunscreen.

According to CNN, Broadway had dropped her boys off at Happiness is a Learning Center last week at 9 a.m. When she arrived to pick them up, her sons were crying and writhing in pain, their skin red with severe sunburn. Staff at the daycare told the single mother that they did not have sunscreen and that the boys had refused to keep their shirts on. Broadway was advised by a local pharmacist to apply aloe to her sons’ skin—but soon found herself in the emergency room. By Sunday morning, the boys were transported to Shriners Hospital for Children with boils on their shoulders and backs and Connor complaining of chest pain. The brothers were treated for serious, second-degree burns. Son Connor’s burns had eventually reached a level of third-degree and both boys, sadly, had to have skin removed from their backs.

Summer in Boston can often be a  time to leave your windows open and let the breeze roll in, an action of relief from the stifling heat. What most people fail to realize though is that these open windows may pose an enormous safety hazard for any young children present in the home—particularly if your windows are open on a high floor. During the past few weeks there have been numerous incidents where young children have fallen through open windows and suffered serious injuries; serious injuries that some may even die from if they fall a great distance.

Early Friday morning a 2 year old girl from Boston fell out of the window of her 2^nd floor apartment located on 134 Hampton Street, and landed on the patio below. Initial reports indicate that the distance the young girl fell was between 12 feet and 15 feet. Thankfully, she did not suffer any serious injuries from the fall. She was transported to Boston Medical Center following the incident and is being treated for non-life threatening injuries. The girl’s mother indicated that she believes the girl pushed aside cardboard that had been propped against the window, which is what opened the area up for her to fall through.

This occurrence is not uncommon. Children playing near windows or leaning against them will often push too hard against the screen, causing it to dislodge. This can happen fairly easily and quickly, which leaves children in a vulnerable position and prone to falling straight through the opening. Parents are encouraged to check the security and stability of the screen windows in their homes and to monitor children that may be playing near the window in order to prevent any injuries from occurring. Continue reading