National Burn Awareness Day 2016 Round-Up

Our feet have barely touched the ground after a fantastic National Burn Awareness Day on the 19^th October. The British Burns Association National Burn Awareness Day is an annual UK campaign to raise awareness of the potential dangers that may result in a burn or scald injury. The day was a huge success and has raised a phenomenal amount of awareness. Here’s a round up of some of the day and what was achieved by so many wonderful people:

National Burn Awareness Day started early with Jorge Leon-Villapalos, Burns Surgeon on Sky News Sunrise. Jorge did a fantastic job at raising awareness of the fact that hair straighteners are one of the main causes of burns to children stating that “Hair straighteners are to blame for 5% of serous burns to children.”

Hospitals and Burns Services around the country held awareness raising events, both on-site and in their local communities.  They participated in local media interviews and many joined forces with their local Fire & Rescue Services.

Thanks to the support of Fire Kills and CFOA, who promoted the day to Fire & Rescue Services nationally prior to the event, many Fire and Rescue Services ran events such as “Stop, Drop, Roll” demonstrations and interactive assemblies in schools. Fire Cadets were also involved in awareness raising and first aid courses.

BBC News also supported the day discussing on their website ten-month-old Joshua being one of hundreds of children admitted to hospital each year after being burned by hair straighteners. Read the full article here.

Twitter and Facebook played a vital role in the day with #BeBurnsAware, the day’s official hashtag, trending at one point during the day’s activity. National Burn Awareness Day was supported on Twitter by so many people and organisations including Fire Services, Government, Councils, MP’s, Commerce and Industry, Healthcare, Education and Child Care, Celebrities, Media, Individuals, Burn Survivors and other Burns Related Charities  – thank you to everyone who got involved.

The coverage across radio stations was also fantastic and included: BBC Sussex, BBC Surrey, BBC London, BBC Hereford, BBC Worcester and BBC5Live. What an amazing amount of support for this special day!

The Huffington Post also raised awareness, sharing that one in four parents leave their hair straighteners unattended. Read the full article here.

This is just a small snapshot of the activities which took place on the day. A big thank you to everyone who was involved in a big or small way.