By Abbey Cannan
More than 60 children were taken to health clinics for X-rays on 4 September after a toy was found broken at a childcare centre with button batteries missing.
At 10.35am, paramedics were called for concerns of a potential battery ingestion at a centre on the Sunshine Coast.
Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) senior operations supervisor James Mayfield said, “There’s a risk of internal burns and ultimately there’s a risk of death.“
“That’s why we took no risk or no chance to make sure everyone who was exposed had an X-ray.“
To avoid a sudden influx of patients, QAS and Queensland Health organised 64 children to be picked up by private means and taken for precautionary scans at various health facilities.
“It would have been a daunting phone call for the parents to receive but the childcare centre was very transparent with them about what happened, and then we were very transparent about what occurred as well in the importance that they needed an X-ray,“ James said.
“The parents arrived in a very timely fashion and some parents were willing to travel distances so that those who couldn’t were able to go to a local hospital.
“The facility organised for a metal detector to come and sweep the yard where it was found to eliminate any potential further risk that we didn’t have all the button batteries that were found.
“We are pleased to confirm that all children have now been assessed, and no cases of ingestion have been reported.“
