HaltonParents

As a public health nurse and parent, I sometimes feel like I am pulled in opposing directions when trying to balance safety and physical activity.

In public health, our priority is prevention. If we spend our limited time, energy and resources on preventing disease and injury, we stand to save a huge amount of time, energy and resources on treating the actual disease or injury.

Exhibit one: Did you know the number one reason kids visit the emergency room is from falls? My daughter became one of those statistics when she fell at home while learning to walk and hit her head on a sharp corner. She earned three stitches on her forehead and even though I did nothing to cause it, it felt like I had failed her because it could been prevented. I immediately installed safety bumpers on all the sharp corners in my house and tried to resist the incredible urge to wrap my child in bubble wrap. So if it had been prevented, it would have spared my daughter pain, spared me the guilt, and not to mention health care dollars and use of emergency room space since the fall happened outside the hours of operation of our local urgent care clinic. Key learning: prevent the fall, prevent the injury! Continue reading →