A summertime doctor's visit is prompting one Prince George mother to question why there aren't any precautions in place to prevent burns at Duchess Park.
Sheri Macdonald took her four children to the playground on Tuesday morning, but the outing ended painfully for her two-year-old son Nicholas, who received burns to his hands after going down the park's slide.
Macdonald said she could tell something was wrong almost instantly after Nicholas started his descent on his stomach.
"It was a high-pitched cry, like something's wrong," she said. "An instant cry of pain versus a whine."
As a nurse, Macdonald knew enough to put Nicholas's hands in cold water - one of which formed a couple of blisters - and took him to the doctor where he was bandaged up.
Macdonald said the city should be looking into signage warning park patrons of the heat danger or look at planting trees to offer some level of shade for the equipment.
The city has no plans to put up any signs regarding the slide, according to communication manager Todd Corrigall. "But we encourage the parents to check the temperature of them before they let their kids go down."
This isn't the first time contact with a hot slide at Duchess Park has sent a child to the doctor. Last August, a visiting family from Prince Rupert ended up in the emergency room where a toddler was treated for second-degree burns on his hands.
"You want to keep [kids] active, but if you can't even go to the park at 11 o'clock without hurting themselves it's clearly a concern," said Macdonald, who was among other families at the park at the time.
According to Environment Canada, it would have been about 25 C when Macdonald took her family to the park on July 29. The day reached a high of 28 C.
The Citizen measured the temperature of the Duchess Park slide at 10:30 a.m. on July 31 when the temperature was closer to 22 C and observed a reading of 59 C (138.5 F).
It takes less than five seconds to get a third degree burn at 60 C (140 F), according to the B.C. Professional Fire Fighter's Burn Fund, a group supporting burn victims and work that raises awareness about fire and burn safety issues.
"On average, over 1,000 Canadian children are admitted to hospital each year for burn-related injuries while thousands require treatment in emergency departments or as outpatients," said the group's website. "In Canada, fire and burn-related injuries are the third leading cause of injury-related hospital admissions for children 0-4 years of age."
