Press Release
June 27, 2007
Contact: Jerry Carey
Phone: (856) 566-6171
careyge@umdnj.edu
Fireworks Injury Season Is Upon Us Warn UMDNJ Medical Experts
Despite fireworks ban, physicians treat injuries statewide
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NEWARK — Physicians from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey are reminding New Jersey residents as the July 4th holiday approaches that fireworks are illegal and the devices are particularly dangerous to children.
“Each year, most of these types of injuries occur during the four-week period surrounding the Fourth of July,” said Dr. Frank Levin, chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the UMDNJ-School of Osteopathic Medicine, in Stratford. “The good news is that in New Jersey the number of injuries is on the decline and we’d like to see it stay that way. People should enjoy fireworks safely, at a licensed, public event.”
Last year, statistics indicate that New Jersey bucked the national trend by recording a decline in fireworks-related injuries, from 21 in 2005 to 12 in 2006.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s most recent report on the subject (http://www.cpsc.gov/LIBRARY/2005fwreport.pdf) shows that when it comes to fireworks injuries young people are the most frequent victims. Children under 15 years of age account for 45 percent of fireworks injuries and more than half of all fireworks injuries occur among people younger than 20 years. Firecrackers cause the most injuries, followed by rockets and sparklers. Children younger than five years old suffer nearly half the injuries caused by sparklers while most rocket injuries are caused by bottle rockets. In New Jersey, it is illegal for an individual to possess any fireworks, including sparklers.
UMDNJ physicians provide healthcare to New Jersey residents in hospitals, clinical offices and centers in every county in the state and include:
· Physicians from UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School at The University Hospital in Newark.
· Physicians from UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick and at The Cooper Health System in Camden.
· Physicians from the UMDNJ-School of Osteopathic Medicine at the Kennedy Memorial Hospitals in Stratford, Cherry Hill, and Washington Township.
To arrange for an interview with a physician in your circulation area, contact Jerry Carey at (856) 566-6171 or (973) 972-3000.
UMDNJ is the nation's largest free-standing public health sciences university with more than 5,700 students attending the state's three medical schools, its only dental school, a graduate school of biomedical sciences, a school of health related professions, a school of nursing and its only school of public health, on five campuses. Last year, there were more than two million patient visits to UMDNJ facilities and faculty at campuses in Newark, New Brunswick/Piscataway, Scotch Plains, Camden and Stratford. UMDNJ operates University Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center in Newark, and University Behavioral HealthCare, a mental health and addiction services network.
