WMCHealth Encourages Safe Independence Day Celebrations

VALHALLA, N.Y. (June 30, 2020) – Many communities have cancelled Fourth of July fireworks celebrations this year due to COVID-19 restrictions and the Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth) is encouraging residents to seek safe alternatives to Independence Day celebrations, rather than using fireworks recreationally or staging their own fireworks displays.
Each year, thousands of adults and children are treated at hospitals across the United States for lacerations, burns and amputations resulting from the use of fireworks. Burns make up almost half of all fireworks-related injuries, making them the most common, according to the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC).

“Fireworks are the direct cause of many avoidable injuries we see in WMCHealth emergency departments, and we are concerned these injuries will rise this year with community members celebrating the Fourth of July with their own firework use,” said Ivan Miller, MD, Director of Emergency Medicine at Westchester Medical Center, Maria Fareri Children’s Hospitaland MidHudson Regional Hospital, all members of WMCHealth. “Fireworks should be handled by trained, pyrotechnic experts only, due to the injury risks. Even a simple sparkler can burn at 2,000 degrees*, a temperature that can cause a severe burn.”

Seeking care immediately at the nearest emergency department or by calling 911 is critical after any serious injury. WMCHealth’s Westchester Medical Center is home to the Hudson Valley’s only dedicated burn center and along with WMCHealth’s Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital. (pediatric), carries the state’s highest designation for trauma care. MidHudson Regional Hospital, a member of WMCHealth located in Poughkeepsie is a Level II trauma center.
Children and Young Adults at Risk On average, 180 people go to the emergency room every day with fireworks-related injuries in the month around the July 4th holiday, according to the CPSC. The CPSC reported that in 2019, more than 10,000 people across the United States were treated for fireworks-related injuries in emergency departments, and injuries to children and young adults under age 20 made up nearly half of the emergency department-treated fireworks injuries.

About Westchester Medical Center Health Network
The Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth) is a 1,700-bed healthcare system headquartered in Valhalla, New York, with 10 hospitals on eight campuses spanning
6,200 square miles of the Hudson Valley. WMCHealth employs more than 12,000 people and
has nearly 3,000 attending physicians. From Level 1, Level 2 and Pediatric Trauma Centers, the region’s only acute care children’s hospital, an academic medical center, several community
hospitals, dozens of specialized institutes and centers, skilled nursing, assisted living facilities,
homecare services and one of the largest mental health systems in New York State, today WMCHealth is the pre-eminent provider of integrated healthcare in the Hudson Valley. For more information about WMCHealth, visit WMCHealth.org.