For many of us, the July 4 weekend means cookouts and fireworks. For emergency room doctors, it usually means seeing some bloody and preventable injuries.
Dr. Zach Walker is an emergency room physician at Saint Joseph Health Center in Mishawaka. Walker says he’s all for celebrating the nation’s birthday, he just wishes the danger wasn’t so predictable.
“It’s almost a guarantee I’ll see somebody who has a severe hand injury around this holiday," Walker says. "We see a lot of injuries to digits, lost fingers, burns to hands, so I’m hoping that by doing this interview and a little education, maybe we don’t see one this time around. That would make me very happy.”
Walker says there’s a reason the law requires you to be at least 18 to buy fireworks.
“It is the older children, pre-teen to teenage group, that I usually see these injuries in, unfortunately," Walker says. "Older kids that are starting to have a little bit more responsibility and you want to let your kids have fun, and they’re out playing with these things. I want my kids to have fun too but I suggest keeping fireworks out of the hands of children. These are explosive devices.”
