Page 22 - The Regent Digest Volume 12 Issue 36
P. 22

Medical Corner                                                                                                         Know and have accessible important






                                                                                                                                  phone numbers, such as emergency re-

                                                                                                                                  sponse teams, poison control, and family
                                                                                                                                  doctors.
        ENSURING                                                                                                                  Additional behaviours, such as refraining


                                                                                                                                  from cigarette smoking in the home can
                                                                                                                                  reduce multiple health risks to children
        SAFETY                                                                                                                    and adults including chronic health im-
                                                                                                                                  pacts (asthma) as well as unintentional
                                                                                                                                  injury — residential fires caused by smok-


         STRATEGIES FOR INJURY                                                                                                    ing  materials  (including  cigarettes)  are
                                                                                                                                  the leading cause of fire-related death.
         PREVENTION IN THE                                                                                                        Creating a safer home environment will

         ENVIRONMENT                                                                                                              serve not only to lower the risk of children

                                                                                                                                  and adult unintentional injury but also to
                                                                                                                                  assist in the establishment of an overall

            DEFINITION OF TERMS                                         lthough unintentional injuries are by                     healthier home and school environment.
                                                                        definition  accidental,  there  are  ba-
                                                              A sic precautions that can be taken in
      INJURY:  Injury  is  physiological  damage
                                                               the environment to help limit the conditions
      to the living tissue of any organism. Inju-
                                                               conducive to injury:
      ries can be caused in many ways, such as
      mechanically with penetration by sharp
                                                              •  Properly and consistently use safety devic-
      objects such as teeth or blunt objects, by
                                                                  es such as smoke detectors, bicycle hel-
      heat or cold, or by venoms and biotoxins.
                                                                  mets, gates, and child-proof  containers
      SAFETY: Safety is the state of being “safe”,                and latches.
      the  condition  of  being  protected  from
      harm or other danger. Safety can also re-               •  Actively supervise children’s activities, in-
      fer to the control of recognized hazards to                 cluding continuously monitoring children
      achieve an acceptable level of risk.                        while  they are  in or  near water  and  gen-
                                                                  erally restricting children’s access to areas
      PREVENTION: Is any action taken to keep
                                                                  containing potentially hazardous materi-
      people healthy, and prevent or avoid the
                                                                  als or objects.
      risk of poor health, illness, injury, and early
      death.
                                                              •  Keep other dangerous items out of chil-
                                                                                                                                                                 IFEDOLA OPESAN
                                                                  dren’s reach, such as knives, handles from
                                                                  pots on the stove, hot liquids, and cords to                                                     SCHOOL NURSE
                                                                  appliances and window treatments.




                                    THE REGENT SECONDARY SCHOOL                                                   22                                                  THE REGENT SECONDARY SCHOOL                                           23
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