Feature

The accident on the street

The old brick five-stored building is located in the outskirts of Novomoskovsk. It is a children's hospital, where my relative is keeping her bed. Her name is Poluchina Alina and she is 10 years old.

“I am in the hospital, because last week I fell from a tree and broke my right leg,” Alina says. “I don’t know how long I have to stay here.”

The accident occurred three weeks ago. She decided to go for a walk with her yorkshire terrier Suzy. During the walk she was running and training her dog. Then she wanted to swing and climb a tree. She tied up a dog and started ascending a plant. When the girl did it her foot slipped and she fell.

“I think it all happened in a split second,” she remembers. “Firstly, I was on a tree and in a second I was already lying flat on the ground. I felt acute pain in my leg. I started crying. Then my elder sister noticed me and went out of the house. She phoned our parents and emergency.”

After this shocking accident a girl was operated immediately and now she is keeping her bed in the children's hospital. The mother has to stay with her during the whole day. Every week the father, the sister and grandparents visits her. Doctors says that everything is ok and Alina will be able to come back home before New Year.

Her mother, very tired, says that when her daughter broke the leg she was working in Moscow and she could come to the hospital only after some time. All relatives worry about the girl. They bring every weekend some juice, fruits and vegetables and, of course, a lot of candies. Sometimes Alina’s grandmother stays with her for the night, instead of her mother.

“It was unexpected for me that my granddaughter has broken her leg,” she says. “Poor girl…Just last year she had dislocated her foot and now this accident happened.”

When I came to Alina I was shocked how many children there were. Every ward was full of children from 5 till 18 years old. I got interested to find out how often children or just people break something.

According to the electronic science journal, kids are mostly exposed to fractures, because they are more active than adults. Children damages are slight injuries in most cases. They can be damaged at home, out of doors, at school and etc. That is why there are a lot of children in the hospitals. Extensive and heavy traumas are an exception to the general rule; they average 5-7% of all injuries. In spite of this kids get over quicker than grown-ups.

In Tula region children damages lower from year to year, but this is not to say that Tula kids are in safety. Most of them are injured at home (about 50%) and out of doors (about 40%).

 “A great number of accidents happen in winter, when it is slippery and snowy, but in summer kids are damaged more often,” says a doctor of a Chelyabinsk children health protection Centre. “The greatest numbers of injuries occur with boys, they suffer 2-3 times more often than girls. I think parents should be more attentive to children even if they suppose that their kids have already grown.”

That is really so. Most parents are sure that their children are big enough to take care of themselves, but it’s wrong. Parents should protect him and explain different things, like matches are dangerous, mind when you're crossing the road and etc. Also parents should teach their children to swim, not to open the door for strangers, not to play near the road.

As for Alina I hope she will get better as soon as possible. She can’t go to school now and has to stay in the hospital, but I think she’ll return home before New Year holidays and will be able to celebrate it with her mother, father and elder sister.

“To tell the truth, I would like to do my packing and go home,” says Alina. “I miss my relatives and friends. Besides, I’m afraid to be absent from school. I just want to walk, chat with my classmates but not stay in such bored place”.