Burn Awareness Week
February 2 - 8 is Burn Awareness Week. Now is a good time to talk with your family about burn prevention and how to avoid scalds. Nearly 500,000 people in the U.S. receive medical treatment for burn injuries each year. Almost half of these injuries are scalds.
While a scald burn can happen to anyone, young children, older adults and those with disabilities are most vulnerable. Most burn injuries happen in the kitchen while preparing and serving hot foods or beverages. They also happen in the bathroom from exposure to hot tap water in bathtubs or showers.
These injuries can be prevented through increased awareness of scald hazards and by making simple behavioral and environmental changes. Here are a few things you can do to avoid injury:
- Install anti-scald devices on tub faucets and shower heads;
- Allow microwaved food to cool before eating;
- Do not flush toilets, use dish washers or clothes washers while someone is showering to avoid sudden fluctuations in water temperature; and
- If it is necessary to move hot liquids while using a wheelchair, place a large sturdy tray with a solid handle in your lap to decrease the risk of lap burns.
Think you know enough about burn prevention? Test your knowledge with this assessment from the American Burn Association.
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LEGO® Tackles Nature
Robots aren't just for production lines or big-budget movies; LEGO ® has incorporated their use in its yearly FIRST ® LEGO ® League (FLL) Competition challenge.
Every fall, FLL releases a challenge to 9 to 16 year olds (9 to 14 in US/CAN/MEX) designed to get children excited about science and technology—and teach them valuable employment and life skills. This year the theme is, “Nature's Fury.” Participants in this challenge got to experience the awe-inspiring storms, quakes, waves and more that we call natural disasters. Teams discovered what can be done when intense natural events meet the places people live, work and play.
FEMA's own Mike Sharon, Federal Preparedness Coordinator, Region III, had the opportunity to judge the “Nature's Fury” FLL competition. He took us behind the scenes of this exciting competition in a recent FEMA blog post .
The FLL “Nature's Fury” competition is just one of many ways to get youth involved in emergency preparedness. Looking for more, check out these three ideas below:
To stay abreast of youth involvement in emergency preparedness and get helpful tips, sign-up for the monthly Children's and Disasters newsletter .
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Alternative Route to the Rescue
Your everyday commute may be interrupted by unexpected events preventing you from making it on time to your destination. Recently, many commuters in Atlanta experienced challenges getting home and had to stay put due to winter storm Leon . This is just one event that raised the question, “what do I need if I have to unexpectedly shelter-in-place ?”
Maybe it's not weather that will affect your commute, but a traffic accident that might cause some delay in your day. The best plan is to save time by planning ahead:
Remember the time to plan is now, not later! Visit ready.gov for a list of ways to be prepared for natural disasters. You can also share preparedness tips and thoughts using #PrepareAthon on Twitter or via discussion forums on the National Preparedness Community .
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Off The Grid
A winter storm has caused a power outage in your home. Now what do you do? Since the length of the outage can vary from a few hours to several days, you need to plan to get by without utilities for at least three days.
Use FEMA's “ Going Off Grid: Utility Outages , ” free, online activity module to reference simple steps to get prepared for an outage. This module also provides a food safety reference chart so you can know when to save food or when to discard it. Some utility outage checklist items include:
- Document important phone numbers and vital power company information;
- Locate and label your utility shutoffs; and
- Have your disaster kit ready and stocked.
The “Going Off Grid: Utility Outages” activity module is part of FEMA's “ Preparedness Activities for Communities Everywhere ” tools, which educate individuals about relatively easy steps to take to become prepared for all types of hazards. The tools are designed for anyone to use in coordination with local emergency preparedness partners to help better prepare for emergencies.
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Dates for Your Calendar!
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