Jack Fell Down and Broke His Crown...

As first on the scene of emergencies involving children, you are in a unique position to assist not only the child, but the involved adults as well. Children come with neither instruction booklets nor hang tags explaining how to care for them, and parents are in general quite ignorant about what to do—most particularly, as it happens, when their children are at risk. The level of ignorance can be abysmal. You will read in this issue about a mother who, for lack of information, watched her child die when she could so easily have been saved by a simple procedure.

You can play an immensely important role by helping to educate and inform parents to help them cope more effectively in future incidents. There isn’t a kid who doesn’t scare his parents half to death numerous times before growing up to become a parent himself. Parents are faced with every conceivable kind of emergency involving their children, and they need your help. Take the time to talk with the parents of the kids you’re called upon to treat, learn their levels of competence and knowledge, and know what to recommend they read, watch or attend in order to become more proficient in dealing with the hazards that are a part of childhood. This will be an inestimably valuable contribution on your part to the good health and safety of the children—and parents—in your community.

On a wider, national level, you can make an equally valuable contribution by contacting your legislators about the future of the Emergency Medical Services for Children Program (EMSC), the only federal program we have that is focused specifically on improving the quality of children’s emergency care. Since its founding 20 years ago, this national initiative, designed to reduce child and youth disability and death due to severe illness and injury, has initiated hundreds of programs to prevent injuries and has provided thousands of hours of training to EMTs, paramedics and other emergency medical care providers.

All domestic funding programs are at risk these days, and EMSC is no different. Senate bill S.760 seeks $23 million for the program for fiscal 2006, which is not a lot of money for a program that has accomplished so much in the past and has so much promise for the future. This will be money well spent, devoted entirely to making life better for our kids before and during their injuries and illnesses that require emergency care and attention.

You are key to the health and welfare of this country’s children, both on the local and national levels. Please help with this important effort by contacting your legislators and urging them to vote for the EMSC funding appropriation.