The Dodd’s are heading off to Spain soon for our annual summer holiday.  I love travelling and I love taking the kids to new places but trips away are always tinged with some anxiety as we seem to be so accident prone! 

When I was 17 years old we went to the USA to visit family, whilst there I managed to fracture my kneecap, not nice I can tell you.  I had to be flown home early, first class I might add, and attend our local hospital where they screwed my kneecap back together.  I was in a full leg cast for 8 weeks and on crutches for about 4 months, to be honest my knee has never been the same and I’m guessing it’s riddled with arthritis now.  I remember attending the hospital in America and there was a “we accept the following credit cards” sign on the door; it definitely made me appreciate our NHS but as I was only 17 years old I left all that admin side to my mum.  That experience taught me that holiday insurance is an absolute must whenever we go abroad and especially now we have children, I will not go without it and we have had to use it on occasions too.

When Harry was 6 years old we were in Florida and he did a spectacular backwards dive from a tractor.  He had quite a deep head laceration which we applied pressure to and once it had stopped bleeding I realised it was going to need something more than a plaster.  Off we went to the local emergency department; it was so clean and quiet!  Now I have been into many emergency departments during my career as a paramedic and I have never seen one so pristine and peaceful, I guess that’s what private healthcare buys you!  We saw a fabulous DR who promptly assessed, cleaned and stapled Harry’s wound back together and then we were given the bill….$625!  I was so glad we had travel insurance, although we did have to pay upfront and then claim it back from the insurance, thank goodness for credit cards!

Now flying with children can be stressful at the best of times, we flew to New York when Harry was 16 months old, before we had even left the runway he managed to accidently smack Graham in the eye causing quite a bit of trauma.  Graham’s eye watered continuously throughout the duration of the flight and by the time we landed in JFK it looked horrific.  Now luckily my auntie, who we were visiting over there, is a doctor who specialises in paediatrics, so she was able to see that Graham had an infection in his eye and Harry also had conjunctivitis!  Auntie Fran to the rescue, she prescribed some antibiotic drops for both of them and Harry bounced back pretty quickly, Graham on the other hand staggered around New York City with a patch over his eye looking like a pirate for the rest of the week.

Its not just abroad that these accidents happen, of course we had the occasion in North Wales when Charlie decided to jump off a moving swing and managed to fracture not one but both of his wrists.  I might just add that he managed to do this on the 3rd day of the summer holidays, nice timing Charlie!  To be honest though, he was pretty resilient and was riding his scooter and climbing up the climbing frame the next day with both arms in casts.  No stopping that boy! 

So what have I learnt from my clumsy kids?  Well first of all how important it is to know basic first aid.  When these incidents occur you need to know how to assess and treat them initially before getting professional help if required.  You may be the only person there who can provide this treatment and care, and knowing how to do it not only helps the injured person but also makes you feel much more confident about handling the situation.  Secondly, always have a first aid kit to hand.  It doesn’t have to be a large heavy duty style military, wilderness trekking back pack; just a small, practical well stocked first aid kit really can help you to treat many injuries that you may be presented with.  Last but not least, know where your local services are.  Before you head off on any holiday whether it is in this country or abroad, google where the local hospital is or the local doctors surgery, know where the nearest pharmacy is and most importantly know who to call in an emergency.  The likelihood is you won’t need to use any of it (unless you belong to the Dodd family of course!) but I always say on my classes “it’s better to know it and not need it, than need it and not know it”.

Happy holidays and fingers crossed we have an uneventful trip to Spain this month.

www.nhs.uk – this is a useful website that allows you to check where the local services are in the UK.