National Burns Awareness month from June 1-30
88% of minor burns occur at home and with an increased risk in winter. Although the overwhelming majority of Australian burn sufferers (88%) know it is important to treat a burn immediately, alarmingly 90% don’t know the correct treatment for a burn¹. There is a significant need for greater awareness of the correct first aid treatment and it’s not using ice, butter, cucumber or toothpaste!
The inaugural National Burns Awareness Month (June 1-30), has been established to drive greater awareness amongst the Australian community of the correct first aid treatment for minor burns.
Julian Burton OAM, Founder of the Julian Burton Burns Trust comments, “Surprisingly there are still many misconceptions when it comes to the best way to treat a burn. National Burns Awareness Month is about creating awareness of burns first aid for everyday household burns and scalds”.
Mr Burton, who suffered life-threatening burn injuries in the 2002 Bali Bombings, says “Correct burns first aid of ‘Remove—Cool—Cover’ is important to stop the burning process.
REMOVE yourself from danger and remove any clothing or jewellery around the affected burn area; COOL the burn under cool running water for 20-minutes and then COVER with a hydrogel, such as Burnaid® gel, to help relieve the pain and then cover with a clean dressing.”
Research by Australia’s leading burns specialists has confirmed that cool running water for 20-minutes should be the required standard and if no running water is available to immerse the burn in water or wet towels. If clean water is not available, use a hydrogel to help relieve the pain.
Sydney Mum of two, Laila Macri comments, “A minor burn that I suffered recently became really painful due to a sequence of preventable events. I accidently dropped a hot hair wand and instinctively went to grab it causing a burn on a very soft piece of skin on the inside of my wrist.
Although it wasn’t big it was extremely painful. I put it under water but only for a minute or so and then applied cream containing arnica of all things and thought it would help. Now I know it doesn’t. Over the next couple of days as the burn was healing I knocked it against the edge of a box causing the burn injury to become a lot worse and again repeated what I thought would help treat it. I knew I needed to treat it immediately but I had no idea that putting my hand under cool running water for 20-minutes would have been the best way to treat the burn.”
National Burns Awareness Month is an initiative of the Julian Burton Burns Trust, Australia's leading community organisation dedicated to burn injury. With the support of Burnaid®, it will be hosting a series of national educational and awareness initiatives throughout the month.
Minor Burns Facts:
88% of minor burns occur in the home
5% of minor burns occur at work
58% of burns are due to hot surfaces. Most notably metal in the oven (as opposed to steam / hot water/ flames or hot liquid)
77% of minor burns are on the hands and wrist
75% of consumers who have experienced a burn believe the recommended duration for running a burn under cool water is 10 minutes or less
For more information about the month and correct first aid treatment of minor burns visit:
Julian Burton Burns Trust - www.burnstrust.com.au
Australian & New Zealand Burn Association (ANZBA), the peak body for health professionals responsible for the care of the burn-injured in Australia and New Zealand - www.anzba.org.au
Twitter @BurnsAwareMonth
Facebook – Julian Burton Burns Trust
88% of minor burns occur at home and with an increased risk in winter. Although the overwhelming majority of Australian burn sufferers (88%) know it is important to treat a burn immediately, alarmingly 90% don’t know the correct treatment for a burn¹. There is a significant need for greater...
88% of minor burns occur at home and with an increased risk in winter. Although the overwhelming majority of Australian burn sufferers (88%) know it is important to treat a burn immediately, alarmingly 90% don’t know the correct treatment for a burn¹. There is a significant need for greater awareness of the correct first aid treatment and it’s not using ice, butter, cucumber or toothpaste!
The inaugural National Burns Awareness Month (June 1-30), has been established to drive greater awareness amongst the Australian community of the correct first aid treatment for minor burns.
Julian Burton OAM, Founder of the Julian Burton Burns Trust comments, “Surprisingly there are still many misconceptions when it comes to the best way to treat a burn. National Burns Awareness Month is about creating awareness of burns first aid for everyday household burns and scalds”.
Mr Burton, who suffered life-threatening burn injuries in the 2002 Bali Bombings, says “Correct burns first aid of ‘Remove—Cool—Cover’ is important to stop the burning process.
REMOVE yourself from danger and remove any clothing or jewellery around the affected burn area; COOL the burn under cool running water for 20-minutes and then COVER with a hydrogel, such as Burnaid® gel, to help relieve the pain and then cover with a clean dressing.”
Research by Australia’s leading burns specialists has confirmed that cool running water for 20-minutes should be the required standard and if no running water is available to immerse the burn in water or wet towels. If clean water is not available, use a hydrogel to help relieve the pain.
Sydney Mum of two, Laila Macri comments, “A minor burn that I suffered recently became really painful due to a sequence of preventable events. I accidently dropped a hot hair wand and instinctively went to grab it causing a burn on a very soft piece of skin on the inside of my wrist.
Although it wasn’t big it was extremely painful. I put it under water but only for a minute or so and then applied cream containing arnica of all things and thought it would help. Now I know it doesn’t. Over the next couple of days as the burn was healing I knocked it against the edge of a box causing the burn injury to become a lot worse and again repeated what I thought would help treat it. I knew I needed to treat it immediately but I had no idea that putting my hand under cool running water for 20-minutes would have been the best way to treat the burn.”
National Burns Awareness Month is an initiative of the Julian Burton Burns Trust, Australia's leading community organisation dedicated to burn injury. With the support of Burnaid®, it will be hosting a series of national educational and awareness initiatives throughout the month.
Minor Burns Facts:
88% of minor burns occur in the home
5% of minor burns occur at work
58% of burns are due to hot surfaces. Most notably metal in the oven (as opposed to steam / hot water/ flames or hot liquid)
77% of minor burns are on the hands and wrist
75% of consumers who have experienced a burn believe the recommended duration for running a burn under cool water is 10 minutes or less
For more information about the month and correct first aid treatment of minor burns visit:
Julian Burton Burns Trust - www.burnstrust.com.au
Australian & New Zealand Burn Association (ANZBA), the peak body for health professionals responsible for the care of the burn-injured in Australia and New Zealand - www.anzba.org.au
Twitter @BurnsAwareMonth
Facebook – Julian Burton Burns Trust
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