Just how safe are bouncy castles for little children? This mum's recent Facebook post highlights bouncy castle dangers, and what can go so terribly wrong.
Mum Warns Of Bouncy Castle Dangers
Mummy Joanna Shen had a harrowing experience at the recently concluded Art-zoo. For those who don't know, Art-zoo is the largest animal-themed inflatable playground in Singapore. This year, it was held at the Float@Marina Bay from 9 March -1 April 2018.
Joanna writes that the incident happened on 23 March 2018, "On that fateful March 23rd Friday, I decided to bring my elder girl out for an evening of fun since the weekend had approached. Since my hubby was busy at work, I went along with my mum, sis and her boyfriend."
"Mum, my girl and I went in first as my sis and boyfriend wanted to grab some food at the food stations outside."
After 10 minutes, mummy and daughter decided to try out the bouncy slide, "We came to the bouncy slide which was the only slide there. My daughter was filled with excitement to try that out and so we decided to join a short queue for it."
Joanna stresses that there were no height restrictions or other rules mentioned.
"I was trying to look for any height restrictions at that time likewise with all other Theme Parks that placed that at all the different rides that is deemed to be only safe for children above 1.2 m. But there was NONE at #Artzoo."
Toddler gets badly hurt at bouncy slide
Apparently, the staff did not warn about risks posed to little children either.
"The only thing he told me while I was carrying my Daughter was "Have fun!". No other questions were asked."
"Thinking that it should be safe since #Artzoo seemed relaxed with the safety regulations, I decided to let my Daughter try it out. Since it is a "bouncy" slide, it should be a soft landing even if she were to fall right?? Boy, I was so wrong!"
"This was one of the worst decision that I had ever made in my entire life! And a haunting one too!!"
When they reached the top of the slide though, they were informed that mummy and daughter had to slide separately.
"I let my Daughter go down the slide first. Halfway through, she tumbled and landed on her back and started to cry. I immediately rolled myself down the slide, carried her up and walked away as she was wailing uncontrollably saying “Pain pain.. no more slide..no more slide..”!"
"I checked for injuries and to my horror, I felt her limp left arm dangling from the flesh from the upper arm!"
The distraught mummy was in the brink of tears and ran immediately to call the staff to get an ambulance to go to hospital.
Had to be rushed to hospital
Mummy Joanna was extremely disappointed by the lack of arrangements at the event in case of medical emergencies.
"To my surprise, there was NO medic available and I was brought to a rest station and handed 2 packs of MELTED ice packs to put on my daughter’s arm! One of the staff said he had called a GRAB to send us to SGH, the nearest hospital he mentioned."
However SGH's A&E were unable to handle the case, as the child was below 3. They requested that the child be taken to KK hospital instead.
"I could not let my distressed Daughter wait further and asked for an ambulance to send us but they mentioned that it will require 30 min to get an ambulance. Again, we had to call for a taxi to rush to KKH."
"KKH was prompt and immediately prioritised my Daughter for X-ray and cast before carrying out a surgery requiring GA (anaesthesia) the next morning."
"Which is why my Daughter ended up with 2 wires sticking out of her left arm to hold the bones together. And will have to continue to have the cast for more than a month! She was hospitalised for 3 days."'
Disappointed by handling of the incident
Joanna is also disappointed that the event organisers made only feeble efforts for compensation.
"During the entire ordeal at the hospital, a staff claiming he is a manager for #Artzoo called and mentioned to me to keep my hospital bills and that they will settle it with their insurers BUT that was the last I heard from them about paying for my hospital bills."
She is most hurt though, by the lack of safety precautions, which caused her little child to get badly hurt.
"While I do not require any compensation, is that how we should be treated when my Daughter had to suffer for her fall because there were no safety measures that was put in place??"
"Sure, accidents happen and as parents we have the responsibility to make sure our kids are safe BUT having NO medic, giving us MELTED ice packs, NO ambulance to standby during an event which is meant for kids to play?"
We hope the little girl recovers soon, and is back to her happy, playful self.
theAsianparent reached out to Art-Zoo. Here is their response on the incident:
"We are aware of the incident that has happened within the Art-Zoo premises, and have reached out directly to the family. The well-being of every visitor is important to us and our priority now is to see how best to assist, and we are resolving the matter privately with the family. Our current focus is on them at this moment."
Here is Joanna's full post on Facebook: