Home is a dangerous place

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 14, Issue 653, 10 September 1996, Page 9

Home is a dangerous place

By

Michele

Monaghan

The arrival of 'Kidsafe Week' brought back memories, of the time I learnt from somebody else' s mistake. I was in the shower and the phone rang. "It' s your friend from up the road, she' s burnt her baby my husband informed me. "What's she ringing me for?" I wondered aloud. Thinking that it couldn't be that bad I threw some clothes on, hurriedly jumped in the car, missed the turnoff, and arri ved some fi ve minutes after the phone call. The toddler, who must have been about two, was screaming. Mum had put her under some cold water and I took a look. She was fairly red around the neck and some skin was peeling off. Her mum explained she had been making a cup of coffee and during the split-second she tumed to get the milk (she didn't even have to take a step), the baby pulled the steaming hot coffee onto herself. "Let' s get her to the hospital," I suggested. We had tried

ringing, but the line was engaged. We bundled the wet, sobbing baby into a towel and drove at a moderate pace to the Waiouru hospital, then all hell broke loose. People rushed every where, the doctor was summoned, the ambulance was called, and before we knew it the baby and the doctor were on their way by ambulance to the burns unit at Lower Hutt. Mum had to follow in the

car. The baby was to spend around two months in the burns unit recovering from burns from that one cup of coffee that have scarred her for life. While she is growing she will always have to wear a typ'e of body bandage to keep her skin together. Thank God the coffee didn't spill on her face. According to the experts we did everything right, we put the baby in cold water, didn' t try to take her clothes off (the skin would have come too), we sought medical attention and kept the baby damp during her trip to the hospital. This doesn't make us feel any better. What if I hadn't missed the turn-off? What if we'd waited for an ambulance? What if that cup of coffee had been pushed to :1 e back of the bench out of the baby's reach? What if... Ihe mother has to live with that. This is a case where you can learn from someone else's mistake.