My five year old Madi cheers for the soccer players at Westside on Saturday mornings. Before the games they always line the soccer fields. They line them with something called hydrated lime. As I sat here watching this guy line the field, it made me think of a true story, a funny one, well - not really funny...
About 12 years ago I worked at a summer camp. My job, along with five other guys was to entertain the students all week. For one of our games we played for the students we used baking pans filled with flour & lifesavers. Next to it were large pots full of water & apples. The object of the game was to pull out a lifesaver, then bob for an apple... except you had to do it with no hands. We had done this the same way, week after week with the students - except this one week...
Our program director asked me to set up for the game. That I would find a big bag of flour in the game shed by the basketball courts. I went out there and found a large bag with flour like powder on it... so I grabbed it and set up for the game. It went as usual, until we heard some students making some complaints like...
- "My tongue is burning!"
- "I can't see!"
- "My mouth hurts!"
- "My EYES!!"
Our response to the students complaining was, "get over it, it'll wash out, you'll be ok". When the game was over, I noticed some of the students with really watering eyes, really red tongues, and some were crying - these were teenagers.
After we cleaned up, I returned the supplies to the game shed. My director asked me to find out what kind of flower we put in the pans. I looked at the large bag of flower I used... turned the bag around and saw these words - "HYDRATED LIME".
Oops! Long story short:
- Some kids got medical attention from the camp nurse (who wasn't very happy with us)
- Some kids went to the hospital
- Some came back with bandages over their eyes
- There were about 20 students in all who needed medical treatment
- And a report was filled out (for HRS, when they came to visit)
I assumed that the bag was flour just because it "looked" like it was flour... Have you ever made an assumption like that? Maybe because of how something looked??
(It's safe to assume that I will blog later this week on some practical advice in making assumptions)
2 comments:
wow! And u wonder why parents want a nurse to go to your camps! :)
I figured someone whould leave a comment like that... had to be a former camp nurse :-)
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