Burns boy aids safety push
Jack, 11, is sharing story of his accident to help families be aware of home risks
When Jack Dragicevich was an inquisitive toddler he opened kitchen drawers to climb up and investigate the beeping of a microwave oven — with disastrous results.
Aged nearly 3, he opened its door and pulled a dish of boiling water and vegetables down his front.
Mum Allissa McDowall quickly got Jack under tepid water in the shower to try to limit the damage, but he had suffered third degree burns to 11 per cent of his body and minor burns to his face.
At the time, in 2008, Jack told the Herald: “The bowl, it tipped on me” and the burns were very “owie”.
Today, at the launch of a national campaign at Auckland City Hospital on how to keep children safe in the home, the confident 11-year-old from the North Shore recounted his accident, his treatment, and his work as an ambassador for burns survivors.
He has had several major skin grafts, each of which requires him to stay in hospital for weeks at a time. Jack and his mother are pleased with his recovery, but he faces more operations or other types of treatment because, McDowall says, “The skin doesn’t grow as fast as you do”.
Jack, who plays several sports, including basketball, his favourite, says his skin sometimes feels tight.
“When I’m training for swimming my shoulders don’t go fully back.” Jack has a safety message for families: “Keep microwaves high.” The safety campaign he helped to launch is an interactive exhibition, the $150,000 Safekids Safety Whare, which will be at the hospital until Friday and spend next year visiting 10 sites nationwide.
Injuries in the home are its focus, as more than 60 per cent of injuries Watch a video interview with Jack at nzherald.co.nz in children under 5 occur at home.
Made with funding from the Starship Foundation and to be transported with the support of Mobil, the house-like display has digital, interactive and artistic demonstrations of how to prevent falls, burns, swallowing of button batteries, cutting and piercing, poisoning, driveway-run-over injuries, and how to encourage safe sleeping.
Ann Weaver, director of Safekids Aotearoa, the Auckland District Health Board child safety unit, says New Zealand is the least regulated nation in the OECD in terms of safe environments for children and it shows up in our statistics: each week, preventable injuries kill two children and put about 30 into hospital.