KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana |Health groups team up against children's injuries
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Associated Press - May 28, 2009 9:04 PM ET
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The Injury Prevention Center at Arkansas Children's Hospital has embarked on an effort to reduce the state's injury rate for children and adolescents. The injury rate for youngsters is among the highest in the nation.
Mary Aitken, medical director of the center, said today that, over the Memorial Day weekend, about 500 kids were treated in the hospital's emergency room. She said most of those injuries were preventable.
She called summer "trauma season," when the number of injuries from traffic accidents, water accidents and ATV accidents peaks each year. She said that peak has been getting higher every year, especially for ATV crashes.
The effort includes handouts to be distributed to more than 1,800 primary-care doctors, pediatricians and other health-care providers. They will also go to DHS offices, education cooperatives and civic organizations. The handouts include information on child passenger safety, teen driving, home safety, burn prevention and ATV safety.
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