Newswise — The activity and excitement of the holidays tend to make people less careful when they should be more cautious. Dr. Roger Yurt, director, and Robert Dembicki, R.N., M.S., patient care director of the Hearst Burn Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, urge you to take care all of the time, and offer these special tips for the holiday season:
* Trees: Remember that trees cut early in the season quickly dry out to become fire hazards. Never put a tree in front of an exit.
* Candles: Never leave religious, or any, candles burning unattended.
* Decorations: Never decorate your holiday tree with candles, even if you do not intend to light them.
* Lights: Only buy holiday lights that have been inspected by the Underwriters Laboratory (UL). Inspect and test lights each year before using them.
* Wires: Never leave holiday lights on when you leave the house. If a wire should short, you might return to find your house on fire!
* Fireplaces: Never place a tree near a fireplace. If there is no other place to put it, do not use the fireplace until after the tree has been removed and the needles have been cleaned up.
NewYork-Presbyterian HospitalNewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, based in New York City, is the nation's largest not-for-profit, non-sectarian hospital, with 2,242 beds. The Hospital has nearly 2 million inpatient and outpatient visits in a year, including more than 230,000 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, Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Allen Pavilion and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division. One of the largest and most comprehensive health-care institutions in the world, the Hospital is committed to excellence in patient care, research, education and community service. It ranks sixth in U.S.News & World Report's guide to "America's Best Hospitals," ranks first on New York magazine's "Best Hospitals" survey, has the greatest number of physicians listed in New York magazine's "Best Doctors" issue, and is included among Solucient's top 15 major teaching hospitals. The Hospital's mortality rates are among the lowest for heart attack and heart failure in the country, according to a 2007 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) report card. 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. For more information, visit www.nyp.org.
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