Burn Awareness

Shriners Hospitals for Children® provides critical, surgical and rehabilitative care for varying degrees of pediatric burn injuries. Each state-of-the-art hospital is staffed and equipped to provide treatments for:

• Acute, recent burns
• Healed burns
• Scarring that has caused contractures or limited mobility
• Smoke inhalation
• Facial scarring or deformities
• Congenital hairy nevus
• Port wine stains and hemangiomas
• Complex skin conditions
• Congenital ear deformities

Applying for Care

For information on how to apply to Shriners Hospitals for Children or to refer a patient, please visit www.shrinershospitalsforchildren.org, or call 800-237-5055 in the U.S., or 800-361-7256 in Canada.

For emergency burn care, the referring physician should telephone the chief of staff at the nearest Shriners Hospitals for Children facility providing burn care.

Boston: 800-255-1916
Cincinnati: 866-947-7840
Galveston: 409-770-6773
Northern California (Sacramento): 866-714-7123

Caring for the Whole Child

The staff at Shriners Hospitals for Children focuses on the medical and emotional needs of every child. A multidisciplinary team works closely with the patient and family to provide support during the child’s recovery and transition back to school and family life.

Innovative Burn Research

Shriners Hospitals for Children is committed to research and is regarded as a pioneer in developing major breakthroughs in burn medicine. Some of the advances made through these research efforts include:

• Improved survival rates for patients with severe burns and shorter hospital stays
• An understanding of the value of immediate wound closure
• Creation of pressure garments to minimize scarring
• Improvements in metabolic and nutritional care
• Development of engineered skin substitutes and better wound-healing techniques

About Shriners Hospitals for Children

Shriners Hospitals for Children is a health care system of 22 hospitals dedicated to improving the lives of children by providing pediatric specialty care, innovative research and outstanding teaching programs. Children up to age 18 with orthopaedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate are eligible for care and receive all services in a family-centered environment, regardless of the patients’ ability to pay.

Reckless use and improper storage of gasoline lead to thousands of young children and teens being burned every year. Shriners International and Shriners Hospitals for Children® are addressing these dangers as part of their Burn Awareness campaign.

Burn Awareness Week is a perfect time to take advantage of the complimentary burn prevention materials available from Shriners Hospitals for Children®. These include burn prevention posters, coloring book, fact sheets and stickers.

Teens and Tweens

For parents and caregivers of teens and tweens, Shriners Hospitals for Children® has created fact sheets and a video featuring the story of Austin Bailiff, a teen who sustained severe injuries after experimenting with fire and gasoline.

Important Facts for Teens and Tweens (PDF) English Spanish

DVD: The Story of Austin Bailiff: This brief video emphasizes the dangers of playing with gasoline and targets a teen and tween audience. Austin Bailiff is a teen who was severely burned after experimenting with fire and gasoline. Bailiff has endured months of surgeries, skin grafts and therapy, and has missed out on playing football, wrestling and his 8th grade graduation. Warning: video contains images that might be disturbing to younger audiences. View the video on YouTube.

2012 Burn Awareness Campaign

Shriners Hospitals for Children® wants children and families to "Be Burn Aware," especially at home.

Burn prevention is a key endeavor of Shriners Hospitals for Children, which is why the health care system began its Burn Awareness campaigns more than 20 years ago. 

Safety Begins at Home

Consider these facts:

• Every day, across the U.S., hundreds of children are taken to emergency rooms for treatment of scald burns caused by contact with hot liquids, steam or foods.
• Approximately 65 percent of children under age 4 hospitalized for burn injuries were scalded by hot liquids.
• Approximately 16,000 children under age 5 are treated in U.S. hospitals for scald burns annually.
• Ninety-five percent of scalds occur in residences.
• Fire causes the death of more than 600 children ages 14 and under each year, and injures about 3,000 more.
• Nearly 50 percent of children injured in fires or fire-related incidents are under age 5.
• More than 60 percent of residential fires that cause the death of a child occur in homes without smoke detectors.

Many of these injuries could have been easily prevented. The 2012 campaign, Be Burn Aware, emphasizes the importance of observing basic precautions to keep everyone – especially children – safe at home.

Meet Boots and Brewster, the Burn Awareness Pair

The campaign introduces two new child-friendly characters, Boots and Brewster, a caped, cuddly bear and a googly-eyed teapot. In two new activity books for ages 3-7 and 8-12, the pair leads children through the various rooms of a house, pointing out dangers, and how to easily correct or avoid them. The booklets also have pages for families to map out a home fire escape plan.

Be Burn Aware Materials for Children and Families

Shriners Hospitals for Children offers a variety of complimentary burn prevention materials, including activity books, posters and fact sheets. To view these materials and place an order, see our materials order page. For more information, contact the public relations department at Shriners International Headquarters by sending an e-mail to shrinepr@shrinenet.org, or calling 813-281-8162.

The following materials are available for download:

Be Burn Aware Tipsheet (PDF)

Shriners Hospitals for Children Fact Sheet (PDF) English Spanish

Important Facts for Parents and Caregivers (PDF) English Spanish

Burn Awareness Lesson Plans for Grades K-3 (PDF) English

Every day, 300 young children with burn injuries are taken to emergency rooms. They were not even near a flame. The children are victims of scalds.

Clearly, this is a real danger. Scald burns (caused by hot liquids, steam or foods) are the most common burn injury among children age 4 and younger. In 2003, U.S. hospitals treated an estimated 16,000 children under 5 for scalds, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. And, mortality rates from scalds are highest for children under age 4.

While the injuries and the numbers are distressing, even more disturbing is the fact that many of these burns could have been prevented. Shriners Hospitals for Children® and Shriners International are addressing scald injuries as part of their Burn Awareness campaign.

How Scalds Happen

Ninety-five percent of scalds occur in residences. Scald burns are typically related to ordinary activities – bathing, cooking and eating – and often happen to children because of a lapse in adult supervision or a lack of protective measures. Youngsters may not understand or even be aware of potential dangers of hot liquids (especially water) and foods; they simply trust adults to keep them safe.

In addition, young children have thinner skin that burns more quickly than adults’. People of all ages can be burned in 30 seconds by a flowing liquid that is 130° F; at 140° F, it takes only five seconds; at 160° F, it only takes one second. For children under 5, these temperatures can cause a burn in half the time.

Quick Facts about Scald Injuries

• Every day, more than 300 young children with scald burns are taken to emergency rooms.
• The mortality rates from scald burn injuries are highest for children under the age of 4.
• Most scald injuries in children occur while bathing.

Preventing Scalds

According to the National Safe Kids Campaign, 4,000 to 5,000 children are scalded each year, most while bathing. Continuous supervision of young children is the most important factor in preventing tap-water scald burns, but there are additional simple preventive measures that can be taken, including:

• Lower the temperature settings on water heaters to 120° F (49° C) or less.
• Install anti-scald devices on water faucets and shower heads.
• When filling the bathtub, turn on cold water first. Mix in warmer water carefully.
• Check the water temperature by rapidly moving your hand through the water. If the water feels hot to an adult, it is too hot for a child.
• Use knob covers on faucets.

  Scalds also occur in the kitchen and dining room. Many of these can be prevented by:
• Using oven mitts or hot pads when cooking.
• Turning pot handles inward.
• Thoroughly stirring all microwaved food.
• Never heating baby bottles in a microwave.
• Not using deep fryers around children.

These suggestions may seem obvious, but given the statistics, they can not be repeated too often. Burn Awareness Week is a perfect time to take advantage of the complimentary burn prevention materials available from Shriners Hospitals for Children. These include burn prevention posters, coloring book, fact sheets and stickers.

To order any of these materials, please visit our online ordering system. We accept orders for delivery within the United States, Canada and Mexico only. Please allow up to 2 weeks for delivery. (* denotes that materials are available in English and Spanish)

Activity Book (ages 3-7)*	Activity Book (ages 8-12)*	Be Burn Aware Poster*	Austin Bailiff DVD	Scald Prevention Poster