Hospital Emergency Room Closures

In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, "Factors Associated With Closures of Emergency Departments in the United States," it was found that almost one third of hospital emergency rooms have closed over the last twenty years. While the emergency rooms closed, there has been a 35% increase in the number of emergency room visits per year, according to the USA Today article, "Study: Third of hospital ERs have closed over past 20 years."

A significant number of emergency room admissions are children under five. Accidental poisonings make up a large portion of the reason for the emergency. Over 90% of accidental ingestion requiring emergency treatment occurs in the child's home. Of these ingestions, 57% are from household goods such as cleaning products, pesticides, art supplies as well as body care products and cosmetics, according to MUSC Children's Hospital, Protecting Your Child from Household Cleaning Products.

In addition to accidental ingestion, many of the chemically-created fragrances in cleaning and body care products have been shown to increase the risk of developing asthma and increasing the frequency, duration and severity of asthma attacks. One of the largest growing reasons for emergency room visits is the dramatic increase in asthma in children under five years old over the last 30 years. Asthma attacks and reaction to asthma medications causes an extreme burden on our health care system with over 5,000 asthmatics requiring emergency room treatment every day - or over almost two million emergency room visits every year, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, Asthma Facts and Figures.

As emergency rooms across the nation continue to close down due to lack of financial viability, it will take longer for many people to reach the emergency room with a child in need of emergency treatment.

There are steps you can take to reduce the risk that your children will need emergency medical treatment from preventable accidental ingestions or exposure to chemicals that exacerbate asthma.

- Keep all medications out of reach of children at all times.

- Store pesticides in a locked area.

- Keep cleaning products in secured locations at all times.

- Keep cosmetics and bath products out of reach of children.

- Reduce dependence on chemically created cleaning and body care products by learning to make and use safe, natural, non-toxic solutions.

Remember, accidental ingestion *is* preventable by following simple safety solutions. With the rate of hospital emergency room closings across the country, it is in the best interest of your family to follow safety strategies and reduce the use of as many chemicals in your home as possible to reduce the likelihood that you will need to take that long drive, wait on a long list, and hope your child receives treatment in time.