Excellence in Education: LPS students learn how to prevent being burned by every day items

The most common burn victims are children between six and eight years old. 

In effort to prevent those injuries, Lincoln Public Schools, Lincoln Fire and Rescue, CHI Health and Safe Kids Lincoln teamed up to teach children a new curriculum called “Hot that Hurts.”

“They are lessons that help the students learn about things in their environment that are hot that hurt and that could scald them or give them burns,” Kindergarten teacher at Maxey Elementary Sibyl Gruhl said.

It teaches elementary children about the things in their environments that could burn or scald them. The most common items being stove tops, fireplaces, candles and hot liquids, said Esther Rathjen, a nurse in CHI Health’s burn unit. 

“We see chest injuries, groin and genital injuries because they’ll grab the hot items and the liquid will pour down them, liquids especially are dangerous. This can mean skin grafting, dressing changes, a lot of pain and the possibility of future surgeries,” Rathjen said. 

She said as much as they love their job of treating burn patients, they’d rather prevent burns from happening at all. 

This curriculum is already in every public school in Lincoln. But Rathjen said they hope to expand to all parochial and rural schools in the area. If you’re interested in having this lesson in your classroom, call Rathjen at 402-219-7871.