July 2, 2025 • 8 mins
Dr. Jim Keany, Chief Medical Officer at Dignity Health St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach, joins The Bill Handel Show for 'Medical News'! Dr. Keany talks with Bill about the top-5 common medical emergencies on July 4th, children and home medication emergencies, and preventing at-home medication mistakes.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Doctor Jim Keeney, Chief Medical Officers for Dignity Jeep, Medical
Officer for Dignity Saint Mary Medical Center in Long Beach.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Jim, Good morning, Corny Bill.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Okay, lot going on today, but let's talk about July fourth,
what's going to happen on Friday?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
And the top five common medical emergencies because you've seen
them all, and.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Let's put to bad the immediate, the one that's my favorite,
and the ever entertaining. Kids getting their hands blown off
because the parents are lading and then play with fireworks.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Off. Now that's always fine.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
You know, the fourth of July is kind of the
er super Bowl, right, this is our big big day
for the year where everybody's going to do all the
crazy stuff and they're going to do it with alcohol,
and they're going to be driving in cars, and they're
going to be in water that where they are not safe.
So I mean all of these things. Basically, we have
(00:56):
fireworks related injuries, that's number one. Right, We're working with
flame are working with kids, we're working with explosives. So
you know, somebody doesn't know it yet, but today is
their you know, this is their last week with ten
fingers and we're hoping we can avoid that by putting
the word out.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Yeah, you know, and I'm sorry, go ahead, I'm just
I'm surprised that parents let their kids, either allowing them
to or being so negligent that the kid gets to
access to fireworks. I mean, how many times have you
looked at parents and have said, you know what, your
kid's never going to hitchhike again.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Do you understand that?
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Yeah, I know it's and honestly, more than so kids,
it's usually sparklers, right, because people think the sparklers are
safe and the newer ones aren't as hot as those
old wire ones. But those wire ones we get up
to like three thousand degrees and cause third degree burns
in the hand that require surgical you know, replacement of
the skin. So you know, it's those were more common
(01:58):
in younger kids. Honestly, it's the young males who are
drinking a lot of alcohol typically are the ones that
blow their hands off. And the most common one is
one person holds the explosive while the other person holds
the lighter, and somehow the guy, you know, the person
just goes all the way to the end of the
fuse immediately and the thing just blows up in their hands.
(02:20):
So that's that's probably my most common hand blown off version.
But you know, again, fire make sure you know we
get to play with fireworks here in southern California in
some areas where the brush fires aren't dangerous. But it's
a lot more fun, I think, just to go to
I mean maybe not as a kid, it was a
lot more fun to have real fireworks right in front
(02:41):
of you. And yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Think I don't know if you ever did the safe
insane firework business, because when I was a kid, La
County couldn't do it.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Ventura County you could. So you drove over the.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Line and literally at the line of Ventura, La County,
there were all the fireworks stands across the street. There
were like thirty of them lined up right over the border.
And you'd come home and.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I always stopped those fires. I always thought that fireworks
it was really crappy. Yeah, I mean, come on, guys.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Yeah, and then you'd have to modify all the fireworks, right,
so you take the piccolo pees and you pinch the
bottom so that it explodes at the end, you know,
all those type of things. So it's it was fun,
but very dangerous for sure. Yeah, and then you have.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
You'll go see we're doing this.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
So I'm gonna let you go because I just have
another horrible story to share with you.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
You were going to say.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
I was just going to move on to you know.
The other thermal injury that we get are grilling accidents
and burnses. Everybody grilling, so they're they're blowing you know,
lighter fluid onto an already lit fire and sometimes it
flares up right on them and don't you don't realize
it is literally a split second, right, those flames just
lick your hands and that's it. You have a you
have a second or third degree burn on your hands
(04:00):
because of the level of heat. So, you know, be
really careful around grills and open fires and all that.
Alcohol just amplifies all of this on the fourth of July.
It amplifies the car accidents, the fireworks accidents, the grilling accidents,
just falling over, you know and breaking things, breaking bones.
So and then of course the water safety and drowning
(04:21):
and using proper you know, flotation devices if you're out
in a lake or in the ocean in a boat,
those types of things.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Now, the other thing we're talking about all the accidents
in the emergency room visits you see on July fourth. Hey,
before I get into the next topic, is July fourth
the day that you see the most accidents of any
day of the year.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
I mean, yeah, definitely, when especially if you look at
the most preventable accidents, it sure seems like that to me.
I mean, I've never looked at a study. It's you know,
we also say that full moons are busier. The studies
show that it's not. I really think they are. But yeah,
it's a busy day. Okay.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Now home medication emergencies, and you know you read about them,
kids are taking medication wrongly.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
I remember my we had done.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I'm trying to get the story that we in the
house we used to live in years ago, when my
kids were very small. You at the backstairs, and then
you'd go through our utility room thing where the washer
and dryer was, and into the kitchen. And then one
day someone had left a little cup of laundry detergent
that almost looked it was a tangerine color, and.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
She gulped it before anybody saw.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
My daughter, Barbara, laundry detergent and a nice little cupful
of it, and I don't remember what we did. Maybe
we gave her a bunch of water and just bubbles
kept on coming out of her throat. I don't even know.
But in terms of the number of accidents where home
medication emergencies happened, let's talk about that for.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
A moment, sure. I mean every eight minutes a child
somewhere in the US is experiencing a medication error or exposure.
So I mean number one is, like you said, when
you have medications in their original bottles, they have safety
mechanisms on them. They're easier to identify so you don't
accidentally do things like drink them or mistake them for skittles.
(06:23):
So that's one thing you can do for sure. The
other one is keeping medications, of course, and things like
detergen out of reach of children so they can't get
it if they are exposed to something. Though, really the
easiest thing, and this could save you a trip to
the emergency room, because not every medication exposure requires an
emergency room visit. You can call poison Control. It's a
(06:45):
free number. They're very responsive. These are super trained people
in just poisonings, and they have all the latest data
at their fingertips. They have a full database of every
exposure they have requard from phone calls and from outcomes,
and also all the research so even better, Like when
you come to the er, I call poison control to
(07:07):
get advice from them. So then yeah, because they really
are the experts. So uh, and the one center's run
out of USC and so when I'm calling, I'm talking
to a physician there who's giving me all this the
latest greatest data. The number is easy. It's eight hundred
to to two one to two two, so really really
(07:27):
easy to remember. They used to give out stickers to
put on phones. Might be something you want to put
stick on your refrigerator, put next to the phone just
in case, Yeah, ivery need it. Maybe the number eight hundred,
eight hundred to to two one to two.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
To two, okay for poison control.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Real quick question. If I have a child and has
ingested some kind of poison, well, I think is poison?
Speaker 2 (07:50):
I rush to your er.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Uh does the waiting time go from five hours to
three hours because my kid's been poisoned?
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Depends, right, It depends on the poison Because even in
the triage area, if there's any delay getting to a doctor,
the first step our nurse does is call poison control,
which is why I say you should always call them first.
The poison control will advise the nurse on how quickly
you need to get them in front of a doctor.
And and so that's really what makes the difference. And
so again calling in advance, you'll you'll walk in and say,
(08:21):
I call poison control. This is what they told me
to do, and I'm here to see a doctor. Got it,
you know, And that's really you know. The other thing
is is expired or unlabeled medications. You should get rid
of those, and that helps keep kids getting from getting
into medications.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
All right, Jim, as always, thank you. We'll talk again
next Wednesday. I'll probably call you before then. All right,
take care of doctor Jim Keaney, who is chief medical
officer for Dignity Saint Mary Medical Center in Long Beach.
I'd love to push that, and he's also an er doc.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
That's it. We're done, guys,
Doctor Jim Keeney, Chief Medical Officers for Dignity Jeep, Medical
Officer for Dignity Saint Mary Medical Center in Long Beach.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Jim, Good morning, Corny Bill.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Okay, lot going on today, but let's talk about July fourth,
what's going to happen on Friday?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
And the top five common medical emergencies because you've seen
them all, and.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Let's put to bad the immediate, the one that's my favorite,
and the ever entertaining. Kids getting their hands blown off
because the parents are lading and then play with fireworks.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Off. Now that's always fine.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
You know, the fourth of July is kind of the
er super Bowl, right, this is our big big day
for the year where everybody's going to do all the
crazy stuff and they're going to do it with alcohol,
and they're going to be driving in cars, and they're
going to be in water that where they are not safe.
So I mean all of these things. Basically, we have
(00:56):
fireworks related injuries, that's number one. Right, We're working with
flame are working with kids, we're working with explosives. So
you know, somebody doesn't know it yet, but today is
their you know, this is their last week with ten
fingers and we're hoping we can avoid that by putting
the word out.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Yeah, you know, and I'm sorry, go ahead, I'm just
I'm surprised that parents let their kids, either allowing them
to or being so negligent that the kid gets to
access to fireworks. I mean, how many times have you
looked at parents and have said, you know what, your
kid's never going to hitchhike again.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Do you understand that?
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Yeah, I know it's and honestly, more than so kids,
it's usually sparklers, right, because people think the sparklers are
safe and the newer ones aren't as hot as those
old wire ones. But those wire ones we get up
to like three thousand degrees and cause third degree burns
in the hand that require surgical you know, replacement of
the skin. So you know, it's those were more common
(01:58):
in younger kids. Honestly, it's the young males who are
drinking a lot of alcohol typically are the ones that
blow their hands off. And the most common one is
one person holds the explosive while the other person holds
the lighter, and somehow the guy, you know, the person
just goes all the way to the end of the
fuse immediately and the thing just blows up in their hands.
(02:20):
So that's that's probably my most common hand blown off version.
But you know, again, fire make sure you know we
get to play with fireworks here in southern California in
some areas where the brush fires aren't dangerous. But it's
a lot more fun, I think, just to go to
I mean maybe not as a kid, it was a
lot more fun to have real fireworks right in front
(02:41):
of you. And yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Think I don't know if you ever did the safe
insane firework business, because when I was a kid, La
County couldn't do it.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Ventura County you could. So you drove over the.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Line and literally at the line of Ventura, La County,
there were all the fireworks stands across the street. There
were like thirty of them lined up right over the border.
And you'd come home and.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I always stopped those fires. I always thought that fireworks
it was really crappy. Yeah, I mean, come on, guys.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Yeah, and then you'd have to modify all the fireworks, right,
so you take the piccolo pees and you pinch the
bottom so that it explodes at the end, you know,
all those type of things. So it's it was fun,
but very dangerous for sure. Yeah, and then you have.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
You'll go see we're doing this.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
So I'm gonna let you go because I just have
another horrible story to share with you.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
You were going to say.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
I was just going to move on to you know.
The other thermal injury that we get are grilling accidents
and burnses. Everybody grilling, so they're they're blowing you know,
lighter fluid onto an already lit fire and sometimes it
flares up right on them and don't you don't realize
it is literally a split second, right, those flames just
lick your hands and that's it. You have a you
have a second or third degree burn on your hands
(04:00):
because of the level of heat. So, you know, be
really careful around grills and open fires and all that.
Alcohol just amplifies all of this on the fourth of July.
It amplifies the car accidents, the fireworks accidents, the grilling accidents,
just falling over, you know and breaking things, breaking bones.
So and then of course the water safety and drowning
(04:21):
and using proper you know, flotation devices if you're out
in a lake or in the ocean in a boat,
those types of things.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Now, the other thing we're talking about all the accidents
in the emergency room visits you see on July fourth. Hey,
before I get into the next topic, is July fourth
the day that you see the most accidents of any
day of the year.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
I mean, yeah, definitely, when especially if you look at
the most preventable accidents, it sure seems like that to me.
I mean, I've never looked at a study. It's you know,
we also say that full moons are busier. The studies
show that it's not. I really think they are. But yeah,
it's a busy day. Okay.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Now home medication emergencies, and you know you read about them,
kids are taking medication wrongly.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
I remember my we had done.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I'm trying to get the story that we in the
house we used to live in years ago, when my
kids were very small. You at the backstairs, and then
you'd go through our utility room thing where the washer
and dryer was, and into the kitchen. And then one
day someone had left a little cup of laundry detergent
that almost looked it was a tangerine color, and.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
She gulped it before anybody saw.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
My daughter, Barbara, laundry detergent and a nice little cupful
of it, and I don't remember what we did. Maybe
we gave her a bunch of water and just bubbles
kept on coming out of her throat. I don't even know.
But in terms of the number of accidents where home
medication emergencies happened, let's talk about that for.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
A moment, sure. I mean every eight minutes a child
somewhere in the US is experiencing a medication error or exposure.
So I mean number one is, like you said, when
you have medications in their original bottles, they have safety
mechanisms on them. They're easier to identify so you don't
accidentally do things like drink them or mistake them for skittles.
(06:23):
So that's one thing you can do for sure. The
other one is keeping medications, of course, and things like
detergen out of reach of children so they can't get
it if they are exposed to something. Though, really the
easiest thing, and this could save you a trip to
the emergency room, because not every medication exposure requires an
emergency room visit. You can call poison Control. It's a
(06:45):
free number. They're very responsive. These are super trained people
in just poisonings, and they have all the latest data
at their fingertips. They have a full database of every
exposure they have requard from phone calls and from outcomes,
and also all the research so even better, Like when
you come to the er, I call poison control to
(07:07):
get advice from them. So then yeah, because they really
are the experts. So uh, and the one center's run
out of USC and so when I'm calling, I'm talking
to a physician there who's giving me all this the
latest greatest data. The number is easy. It's eight hundred
to to two one to two two, so really really
(07:27):
easy to remember. They used to give out stickers to
put on phones. Might be something you want to put
stick on your refrigerator, put next to the phone just
in case, Yeah, ivery need it. Maybe the number eight hundred,
eight hundred to to two one to two.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
To two, okay for poison control.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Real quick question. If I have a child and has
ingested some kind of poison, well, I think is poison?
Speaker 2 (07:50):
I rush to your er.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Uh does the waiting time go from five hours to
three hours because my kid's been poisoned?
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Depends, right, It depends on the poison Because even in
the triage area, if there's any delay getting to a doctor,
the first step our nurse does is call poison control,
which is why I say you should always call them first.
The poison control will advise the nurse on how quickly
you need to get them in front of a doctor.
And and so that's really what makes the difference. And
so again calling in advance, you'll you'll walk in and say,
(08:21):
I call poison control. This is what they told me
to do, and I'm here to see a doctor. Got it,
you know, And that's really you know. The other thing
is is expired or unlabeled medications. You should get rid
of those, and that helps keep kids getting from getting
into medications.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
All right, Jim, as always, thank you. We'll talk again
next Wednesday. I'll probably call you before then. All right,
take care of doctor Jim Keaney, who is chief medical
officer for Dignity Saint Mary Medical Center in Long Beach.
I'd love to push that, and he's also an er doc.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
That's it. We're done, guys,
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