For Immediate Release
June 26, 2007
Contact: John Shaffer
732-776-4166
jshaffer@meridianhealth.com

TRAUMA CENTER AT JERSEY SHORE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER CAUTIONS THAT FIREWORKS ARE BEST VIEWED AT A DISTANCE

Neptune, NJ - Despite their illegal status in New Jersey, firecrackers, sparklers and other forms of small fireworks are expected to send waves of people into hospital emergency rooms or trauma centers around the state. Each year, fireworks injure an average of 10,000 people across the country, approximately half of whom are under the age of 15. Approximately 55% of those injuries will be for burns, with around 30% causing contusions or lacerations.

New Jersey is one of five states (also Delaware, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island) that have banned access by the public to all fireworks.

"The best way to see fireworks is to go to your township holiday celebration, which is handled by professionals," said Felix Garcia, MD, director of trauma at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, which serves the greater region of Monmouth and Ocean counties. "When you handle them yourself, there is the strong potential that you will end up seeing a medical professional instead."

A full 95% of fireworks injuries treated in hospital emergency rooms involved fireworks that Federal regulations permit consumers to use.

"A sparkler burns at more than 1,000 degrees -- hot enough to melt gold -- yet people hand them to children, who run with them or wave them hard enough to throw off sparks," said Dr. Garcia. "Even just one spark is enough to burn a child or cause serious damage to an eye. Giving a sparkler or firecracker to a child makes as much sense as handing them a blowtorch or encouraging them to touch a hot stove."

Along with medical injuries and even fatalities, nearly 30,000 fireworks-related structure, vehicle or outdoor fires are reported each year, resulting in approximately $20 million in damages annually.

"There are no safe and sane fireworks," said Dr. Garcia. "For the Fourth of July holiday, play it safe and stay away from fireworks."

Jersey Shore University Medical Center, a member of the Meridian Health family, is a not-for-profit university teaching hospital and home to the K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital -- the first children's hospital in Monmouth and Ocean counties. Jersey Shore is the regional provider of cardiac surgery, a program which has been ranked among the best in the Northeast, and is home to the only trauma center and nationally-designated stroke center in the region. Jersey Shore University Medical Center specializes in cardiac care and surgery, orthopedics and rehabilitation, cancer care, and advanced women's and children's health services. For more information, please visit www.jerseyshoreuniversitymedicalcenter.com.

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