Seconds Count When Your Child Gets Burned (NAPSA)—Ofall the items that should be in a well-stocked kitchen, first aid treatments might be the ——- — most important. Every 25 seconds, someone in the United States is burned or scalded in their home, and onceit happens, every second counts. Scealds are the leading cause of accidental death in the home for children from birth to age 4 and account for 60 percent of the burn injuries for children up to age 14. And the mostlikely place for children under4 to be burned is right in their own kitchen. “As a former volunteer firefighter and now a pediatrician at the Penn State Children’s Hospital, I know that it is essential to quickly and consistently cool the area when a child gets burned,” said Daniel Rifkin, M.D. “Even simple burns from splashes of hot water or coffee can lead to ongoing injury of the skin if the heat is not removedright away.” Treating Burns Dr. Rifkin urges parents to be prepared by keeping a product like Burn-Jel Plus in the kitchen cabinet. The treatment is a waterbased gel that provides controlled cooling of the burn site by acting as a heat exchanger. It also contains Lidocaine for immediate pain relief and Tea Tree Oil, which is a natural antibacterial agent. This over-the-counter product uses the same Water-Jel technology used byfirefighters, paramedics and even the U.S. military. Better Than Water While many parents immediately turn to water when a burn Be Prepared: It’s a good idea to keep a burn treatment in the home. occurs, it has limitations for burn relief and treatment. As heat is transferred from the wound through evaporation, the surface temperature lowers, but heat emanating from deep within the burn rises to counteract the cooling effect of the evaporating liquid, which then requires new application. Scarring can occur when burned tissue remains at an uneven tem- perature, meaning rapid and consistent heat transferis critical. What Not To Do The use of home remedies such as butter or creams causes more damage by trapping heat and creating a risk for infection. Ice should never be applied to a burn because extreme cold can cause additional tissue injury. You can find Burn-Jel at CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens and WalMart.
