Newsroom

Take extra care this Fourth of July and at all of your summer gatherings by ensuring that accidents do not interfere with warm weather fun.

Dr. Roger Yurt, director of the Hearst Burn Center of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, and the New York City Fire Department recommend the following safety tips to avoid burns from barbecues, fireworks and other routine summer activities:

• Barbeque grills should always be used outside and at least 10 feet away from all buildings, deck railings, and overhanging branches.
• Light the match before you turn on the gas on your propane grill.
• Never leave your grill unattended.
• Use barbecue utensils with long handles, wear short or tight-fitting sleeves, and have a garden hose or bucket of sand available to put out small grill flare-ups.
• Check out local professional fireworks displays instead of trying to do it yourself. In the weeks leading up to and following the Fourth of July, injuries from fireworks and sparklers send some 200 people per day to the emergency room.
• Stay at least 500 feet away from all fireworks displays. Fireworks can get as hot as 1,200°F and can lead to devastating burns, fires, and even death.

For more information, patients may call 866-NYP-NEWS. For more practical fire safety tips, visit the Burn Center and FDNY fire safety pages at https://www.nyp.org/burn-center and http://www1.nyc.gov/site/fdny/education/fire-and-life-safety/fire-life-safety.page.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, based in New York City, is the nation's largest not-for-profit, non-sectarian hospital, with 2,353 beds. The Hospital has nearly 2 million inpatient and outpatient visits in a year, including more than 220,000 visits to its emergency departments — more than any other area hospital. NewYork-Presbyterian provides state-of-the-art inpatient, ambulatory and preventive care in all areas of medicine at five major centers: NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian/The Allen Hospital and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division. One of the most comprehensive health care institutions in the world, the Hospital is committed to excellence in patient care, research, education and community service. NewYork-Presbyterian is the #1 hospital in the New York metropolitan area and is consistently ranked among the best academic medical institutions in the nation, according to U.S.News & World Report. The Hospital has academic affiliations with two of the nation's leading medical colleges: Weill Cornell Medical College and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.