Advocates hope to make child's play safer

Park in South S.L. to get a playground makeover SOUTH SALT LAKE — Skinned knees and the occasional bruise are an unfortunate but normal part of childhood, says emergency physician Charles Pruitt, but serious injuries that cause bleeding on the brain and spinal cord damage also are occurring all too often on Utah's public playgrounds. The traumatic falls, cuts and burns that require overnight hospital stays happen here at the same rate they happen in the rest of the nation, according to statistics gathered by the trauma center at Primary Children's Medical Center. Pruitt and a group of community partners have taken notice and are banding together to keep children out of harm's way in one historically problematic park. "We have a very pleasant environment here in Utah. Our parks are usually well-kept," said Pruitt, who heads... [read full story]