The Arizona Republic Phoenix Community edition features a monthly column written by Fire Chief Bob Khan

City of Phoenix Public Information Office - News Clippings - azcentral.com - April 5, 2008

Learn the ways that we can keep children safe

Being spring, we would assume that everyone has changed the battery in their smoke alarms and has started the tedious process of clearing out clutter and cutting away brush to make our homes more appealing and, without doubt, more fire safe.  What we see in public safety as the temperatures start to increase is the potential for greater risk to our children.

Sadly, our little ones get themselves seriously injured or even lose their valuable little lives either from drowning, car/bicycle collisions or, on rare occasions, even climbing incidents.

I’m a parent and like most parents, I really don’t think those bad things will happen to my family.  But the bottom line is that they can happen to anyone at any time.  It’s not marked on your calendar and there’s no forewarning.  It’s just a blink of an eye and that little person that you love so much is gone forever.

Luckily, we have an array of tools to help us with parenting – bike helmets, pool fences, car seats and smoke alarms.  There are classes available for babysitters and instruction on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).  All of these things stack the odds in our favor when we step into that role of being a mom or dad.

Something that’s been put on our radar screen here at the Phoenix Fire Department is a new program entitled “Have a Heart for Babies.”  The Phoenix Heart Ball Committee, working with the American Heart Association, has put together a packet that is intended for new parents walking out of a hospital with the baby in arms.  This packet gives them the ability to know and use CPR in the event of a medical crisis.  What a great idea!

As a Fire Chief, a huge part of my responsibility is emergency medical services for the Phoenix metropolitan area.  For any group to come together and provide a tool for the greater community to save lives is greatly appreciated. 

As most of my readers know by now, it takes my firefighters more than four minutes to respond to an emergency.  Many times the outcome to that critical situation will be dependent upon smoke alarms, pool fences, and the use of CPR.  I cannot emphasize enough the difference between a live, healthy, viable child and one who needs lifelong medical assistance because of brain damage.  Many times, simple decisions like placing that child correctly in a car seat, putting a helmet on their noodle, or a fence around that pool can make all the difference.  As parents, we make cognitive decisions for our children that give us a lifetime of joy and happiness.

I don’t mean to be dramatic, but if we make poor decisions, the flip side of this is a lifetime of grief and agony.  I would defer a medical explanation to an emergency room physician who could tell you what he sees on a daily basis.

Dr. Steven Reinhart, a board-certified Emergency physician at Banner Good Samaritan and Banner Estrella can tell you, “Critical and fatally injured children are continually brought to Emergency Departments throughout the valley.  Statistics have shown, for instance, that properly used child restraints and safety seats can reduce fatal injury by 54%-71%.”  Dr. Reinhart says, “One of the most difficult tasks of an Emergency Department physician is taking care of injured children. It is even more difficult however, to inform a family of the death of a child that could have been prevented by a simple action of a responsible parent.”

I’ll say this.  My firefighters are the ones who lay their hands on children who get ejected from cars, submerged in water, or for whatever reason stop breathing.  Please help them! As a parent you can use all of the tools and instructions that are out there so that when we respond to your emergency it is to a best-case scenario, not an irreversible tragedy.  Be safe.

Send comments to Bob Khan at firechief.pfd@phoenix.gov or call (602) 26-CHIEF.