Tiny Hands, Big Risks
Courtney Carter
/ Categories: WELLNESS, 2024

Tiny Hands, Big Risks

Protecting children from accidental poisonings

In 2022, U.S. Poison Centers responded to 2,064,875 cases of poisoning. That’s an average of one new case every 15 seconds. Of those, 40% (97,000) were for children under the age of five. Additionally, an estimated 68,600 children under the age of five were seen in the emergency department for accidental poisoning.

While the source of poisoning ranged from cleaning products and laundry detergent pods to fentanyl patches and cosmetics, there was one common theme: 93% of accidental poisonings occurred in the home

 

The Top 5 and Emerging Dangers to Kids

The top 5* most common exposures in children aged 5 years or less in 2022 were:

household cleaning substances (10.3%)

analgesics (9.54%)

cosmetics/personal care products (9.49%)

dietary supplements/herbals/homeopathic (6.65%)

foreign bodies/toys/miscellaneous (6.61%)

 

Recent studies also note an increasing number of accidental poisonings in children from:

*SOURCE: National Poison Data System® (NPDS) from America's Poison Centers®: 40th Annual Report

 

Prevention is key to keeping children safe. Family members and caregivers should work to identify hazards in the home that could be a poisoning danger and keep them out of a child’s sight and reach. 

Here’s where to start:

 Drugs or Medications 

  • Keep medications safely stored in a locked cabinet or box and out of the reach of children. 

  • Keep medicines in their original child-resistant containers and never in unsecured containers. 

  • Properly discard unfinished or unused medicines. 

  • If a family member is taking a medication like Suboxone for opioid use disorder, you should keep a dose of Narcan (Naloxone) in the home in case of accidental ingestion

  • Beware of vitamins, medications, and other substances that are in a gummy form, as they are often mistaken for a candy.

Laundry Packets or Pods 

  • Store laundry packets in their original containers and out of a child’s sight and reach. 

  • Do not let children handle laundry detergent packets. 

Household Cleaning Supplies 

  • Keep chemicals and cleaning supplies safely stored in a locked cabinet or box and out of the reach of children. 

  • Keep household chemicals in their original child-resistant containers. 

Button Cell or Coin Batteries 

  • Keep products with accessible batteries away from children if the battery compartments do not have a screw closure or if the compartment is damaged.  

  • Check the toys in your home to make sure battery compartments are secured. 

  • Do not allow children to play with or be in contact with button cell or coin batteries. 

  • Click here to learn more about the dangers of button and coin batteries.

 

If you think your child has been exposed to a poison, remain calm and:

Call 911 right away if they:

Are having difficulty breathing OR

Have collapsed or are losing consciousness OR

Are having a seizure

If they are conscious and breathing easily:

Call a Poison Control Center at 800-222-1222.

Be prepared to provide the following information when you call:

  • The specific substance consumed. It’s helpful to refer to the label for this information

  • The age and weight of person exposed and any existing health conditions they may have

  • Any first aid provided

  • If the patient has vomited

  • How far you are from the nearest hospital

 

For online assistance or more information on accidental poisonings, visit Poison.org.

 

Moriah Krason, MD, FAAP is a general pediatrician at SVMC Pediatrics in Bennington.

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Interview with Jeff Silverman: 3D Printer

Jeff Silverman is a Wilmington native, a volunteer firefighter, and a business owner. From an addition to his Whitingham, Vermont, farm house, his company, Inertia Unlimited, develops camera technology for broadcast television.

"We make them out of thin air," he says.

Actually, he uses a 3D printer to make prototypes and one-of-a-kind cameras for very specific purposes, including those that sit in the dirt in front of a batter during Major League Baseball games and the ones built into NASCAR racetracks.

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jeff has printed 463 face shields for first responders in the Deerfield Valley and healthcare workers at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center and other places. He has delivered them free of charge.

When and how did you first become interested in printing shields for first responders? In one day, every job we had disappeared. We went from having 20 – 30 jobs to zero in one day. Our first thought was that we would use the materials and talent we typically use to sew the pouches for our cameras to make masks. But we quickly found that the proper materials and techniques were not available to make effective masks. Plus so many other people were making them. They had it covered.

On Sunday, March 22, I read in the New York Times that a company in Syracuse, NY, had made a design to 3D print face shields available online. By noon that day I was printing. Since then the printer has not stopped.

How does it work? The printer converts the design into a 3D object using filament that is the width of a human hair, adding layer by layer. The printer takes 2 hours to print one shield. I have produced 380 shields so far. That's 1000 hours of printing. I take from midnight to 5 a.m. off. We've done more 3D printing in the last month and a half than we had in the previous 5 years.

Describe the shields. It was important to me to produce something that was good quality. Sometimes the ones you buy don’t clean up very well. These can survive UV light and other sterilization. They are rough and tough.

Where have you distributed them? First I gave them to the firefighters in Wilmington and Whitingham, where I am a volunteer. Then I gave some to the Deerfield Valley Rescue. I have sent 324 to Southwestern Vermont Health Care, some to SVMC Deerfield Valley Campus; Golden Cross Ambulance Service and Sojourns Community Clinic, both in Westminster, VT; and Rescue Inc. in Brattleboro. I sent some to a dentist in Portland, ME, who asked, and 10 to North Central Bronx Hospital to a friend who works there.

What's your greatest accomplishment? I went to Wilmington High School in the late 70s, and Dave Larson, who was the social studies teacher and former longtime VT state representative, had a video camera. He let me borrow it to film field hockey games. At the end of the season, they gave me a varsity letter for my film work. I have won Emmys since, but that varsity letter is special, because it represented the beginning.

What's next? We look forward to reopening. For us, it's the easiest thing in the world. No client ever comes here. We didn't lay anybody off. We hired locals. All are full-time with benefits. We think Vermont is a great place for low-impact companies like ours, and we hope more companies discover Vermont and come here to provide well-paid jobs.

And I am really looking forward to turning the printer off.

On behalf of Southwestern Vermont Health Care's frontline staff, thank you to Jeff for his tireless efforts to provide vital equipment to our teams. We appreciate it!

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