Summertime or 'Trauma Season?' - Increase in Outdoor Activities Spurs Higher Risk for Ch...( Experts Launch PHILADELPHIA M...),Health

Experts Launch www.aftertheinjury.org to Help Parents and Kids to a Full Recovery

PHILADELPHIA, May 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "Trauma season" is the unfortunate nickname for summertime in the nation's hospitals. Warmer weather and increased outdoor activity level brings an estimated 3 million children under the age of 15 into emergency rooms in summer due to unintentional injuries. Among the most common injuries are motor vehicle crashes, water-related accidents, pedestrian accidents, falls, dog bites and bicycle, skateboard and rollerblade incidents.

To help parents deal with kids' injuries in the summer and year-round, a team of experts at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia today launched a new website, After the Injury, at www.AfterTheInjury.org. The new site takes the best from science and practice to allow parents to watch brief videos, download tip sheets, and create a personalized care plan based on their child's individual situation. The web site was developed by a team of behavioral researchers, trauma surgeons and trauma nurses, based on nearly a decade of research on childhood injury and its emotional effect on kids and their parents.

"With all the doctors, nurses, and therapists who treat a child when he or she is first hurt, it's still parents who play the most important role in their child's physical and emotional recovery," said Flaura Koplin Winston, MD, PhD, director of the Center for Injury Research and Prevention and co-developer of AfterTheInjury.org. "But often, parents are unsure of how they can best help their children adjust after they've been hurt. While it is important to tend to the wounds and rehabilitation, it is just as important to remember to look beyond the physical injuries. We created AfterTheInjury.org with the guidance of parents, to help t
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