A loving little guy with dimples and a melt-your-heart smile: by all reports that was Donavan Kennedy. By five years old, he had already distinguished himself as compassionate and outgoing, one of those children just so easy to fall in love with.
I went to high school in Nova Scotia with Donavan’s mother, Ann. When she pegged me as a friend a few weeks ago on Facebook, Ann asked me to check out http://www.donavanscampaign.com/On the evening of November 23rd, 2004, Donavan’s lifeless body was found hanging from his bed, tethered at the neck by the tie from his housecoat. How this accident happened is unclear, but the coroner investigating the death noted that in a household with so many safety precautions for the children, it was the unattached tie from the housecoat responsible for this family’s tragedy.
Since that time, Ann and her husband Don have waged a campaign to increase both the Canadian safety standards and our awareness of the dangers of children’s housecoats and other children’s clothing.
Our aim with Donavan’s Campaign is to educate, inform, and publicize the dangers of children’s clothing,” Ann says, “especially children’s housecoats and robes with detachable belts, ties, or sashes.”
The campaign has had some success. For one, Health Canada in 2006 recommended that “that any belts, ties or sashes on [children’s bathrobes, housecoats, dressing gowns, and robes] be stitched firmly to the centre back.” The recommendation went on to warn that “Young children are at risk of strangulation from any type of cord that can be detached from clothing.”
Ann says that the risks of unattached belts on housecoats are not something she had thought about. But, now, she wants others to be aware of the danger and take action to address it.
“The five minutes it would take to permanently attach the belts to the garment will save another family from the grief and loss that we are going through now,” Ann says.
It took me even less than five minutes to get up from reading about the safety campaign, go down to my own five year old’s bedroom and throw away the belt from his housecoat. Another success for Donavan’s campaign.
You can read more at www.donavanscampaign.com. Health Canada recommendations for housecoats are at on the Health Canada website under Consumer Product Safety.
