I make it no secret to agents or clients that I have another job. I am in fact an ICU nurse at Children's Medical Center in Dallas. I just got home from the hospital, and have to share a few quick tips to home buyers and home owners about how to protect your family. I will do so by describing just another night in the ICU.
If You Have A Pool, Make Sure It Is Fenced And Locked!
Even in the dead of winter, children can wonder out the back door. It may be because they see a ball through the window or they want to go play with Sparky. Who knows what kids think, but they can - and do - wonder out in to the backyard. Pools are a nightmare waiting to happen for children. If you have a pool, make sure it is fenced so that even small kids can't get through the bars. Make sure they can't get the gate open by keeping it locked at all times.
Don't think it is just pools where kids can drown though. Many children drown in bathtubs when their parents step out for just a minute to answer a phone or start dinner. Sometimes it is something as simple as a bucket of water, such as a rain water catcher that an infant or toddler tries to climb on to look into. A child can drown in as little as 2 inches of water. 2 INCHES.
If You Have A Medicine Cabinet, Make Sure It Is Locked!
And of course for this to work, you have to actually keep your medicines in there. Children are creatures of imitation. They see mom and dad or grandma and grandpa taking little things out of those orange bottles all of the time. Just like they will stand next to you and pretend to cook, vacuum, or hammer in a nail, they will also imitate you by taking something out of those little orange bottles. They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery... well in this case imitation can be deadly. Lock up your medicines, including "harmless" ones like Tylenol and Motrin. Even those can cause SERIOUS and deadly damage.
If You Have Chemicals, Store Them In A Safe Place
"Chemicals" may sound like something you might not have, but things like bleach, Drano, Windex and furniture polish are just as bad. How many of you store these things in a bottom cabinet or under the sink? A large portion of the population does. A cap full of bleach can tear away the lining of the stomach very quickly and cause irreversible damage or death. How many of you painters or BBQers keep a cup full of gasoline or fire starter on the ground? Store all of these things in a safe place. At least use a cabinet that is at least as high of the ground as your head. If not, put a lock on it and keep it locked up.
Use Gates Next To Your Stairs
Those grand staircases leading up to your second level are gorgeous, but one wrong move by a toddler and it could be lights out permanently. Falls down stairs are one of the leading causes of accidental death among children. Get a gate for both the top AND THE BOTTOM of the stair case. Children don't realize there is a gate at the top when they are down stairs. They will start to climb the stairs up and can easily fall back down.
Test Your Smoke Alarms At Least Twice A Year
Fires claim more than 3,000 lives a year. Most of these could be prevented by having working smoke alarms and an escape plan. Laws in most areas require that a smoke alarm be hardwired to electricity and can no longer be battery operated. If you have the battery kind still, it is well worth the investment to hire someone to hard wire it. Even the hard wired ones need to be tested at a minimum twice a year. The fire codes in many areas now state that you have to have 1 fire alarm outside of each bedroom and at least one on each level of the home.
While you are at it, make sure to install at least one carbon monoxide detector. Carbon monoxide is colorless, odorless, and can be deadly. And, it is generated from multiple pieces of equipment inside your home.
Keep Your Guns Locked Up And Separated From Ammo
Without getting all political here, I will say that I am a staunch supporter of gun ownership. I own several myself. Each and every single one of my guns has a trigger lock on it and I store the ammo separate from the gun. Kids are curious creatures, and they will play with anything. It looks just like the one big brother has or the neighbor down the street. Kids of all ages have no idea how deadly these things are, and if they have access to your weapons, they (and you) are just asking for trouble.
If You Need A Break, Take A Break
You wouldn't believe the number of people who can snap when the pressure mounts. Sometimes, this is at the wrong time - like 3 in the morning when you haven't had any sleep in two days and the baby starts crying AGAIN!!!! If you need a break, take a break. A baby and a child are doing what comes natural to them. Don't take your frustrations, stress, and bad day out on them. If you feel yourself going over that ledge, take a step back and take a break. Take a walk, take a shower, TAKE A BREAK. What ever you take, don't take it out on them.
Take A CPR Class
I suggest that EVERYONE go and take a CPR class. If you have children, parents, people that you care about (that should be most of you I would imagine), sign up to take a CPR class. They are really cheap and many places provide them for free. Contact your local fire department or health department to see if they have any information. Take your family members with you to the class.
Sadly, these are all things that I have seen way more than I'd like and I would hate for ANY of you to experience any of these life-altering accidents. Your life, and theirs, can change in a heartbeat. Accidents can take the lives of loved ones, it can rip families apart, end marriages, and send you into an endless spiral of depression and guilt. Take the necessary precautions to prevent as many accidents as you can. In the end, kids will be kids, and you can't prepare for every scenario. But by taking some simple precautions, you can help to minimize the chance that a child of yours or of a loved one over to visit will be traumatized.
Finally, if you care about saving lives, please share this on Facebook, re-blog it here on Active Rain, tweet it on Twitter. If you can help to prevent one accident or one lost life, isn't it worth sharing? You could be someone's hero. Welcome to where I work. Welcome to just another night in the ICU...
Comments(38)