Dr. Alexandra (Alex) Coward represented the NC Jaycee Burn Center last week to champion burn injury prevention at the NC General Assembly. She joined other members of the North Carolina Fireworks Safety Coalition at a NC House committee hearing in order to oppose a proposed bill (H.B. 98) aimed at legalizing the sale of more powerful–and more dangerous–fireworks directly to consumers. Nearly half of all fireworks related injuries are to innocent bystanders–many of them children, and when legislation similar to H.B. 98 has passed in other states, serious fireworks injuries have increased by 75%. Dr. Coward spoke to just how devastating fireworks injuries can be, especially to our most vulnerable patients: “Kids should be able to grow up using both their hands and their vision, and not spending a year of their life in my burn unit.”
Dr. Coward was joined from the Burn Center by Courtney Wright, Nurse Educator, and Derek Miller, Burn Outreach & Prevention Educator. Dr. Coward’s comments to NC House committee members were followed by moving testimony from other allies in opposition to the proposed bill: Captain Don Johnson, the Community Risk Reduction officer for Garner Fire-Rescue, and Robin Shannon, a longtime community advocate for fireworks safety whose 3-year-old son Michael was killed by a faulty firework. After hearing from Dr. Coward and others, the committee did not vote to pass the proposed bill. The Burn Center team will continue its mission to promote fireworks safety and burn injury prevention.