The owner of an early childhood center in Invercargill, New Zealand, where a 4-year-old girl became grossly intoxicated says
the girl consumed alcohol-based hand sanitizer and the center would not
be using the product again.
Jackie Woodward, owner of the Woodhouse Early Learning Center, has
spoken of the "horrific" few days she and her staff have endured after
the girl was hospitalized in a drunken stupor shortly after leaving the
premises.
The girl was picked up by her mother, Terri Hawke, from the center at
5.30pm on Monday.
But the mother soon became alarmed at her behavior and rushed her to
hospital, where she collapsed into a nurse's arms and was later
diagnosed as being intoxicated. Her alcohol reading was 188mg, nearly
four times over the legal driving limit.
Woodward said they believed the girl had climbed onto a bookshelf and
reached the hand sanitizer connected to the wall above while the on-duty
staff member was putting on a load of washing in another room.
There was "no liquor anywhere in the center at all" that the child could have got access to, she said.
The mother has criticized Woodward's staff for failing to pick up that her daughter was drunk.
Woodward said the only sign the girl was not acting normally was when she stumbled at about 5.15pm, but she put it down to the soles falling off her sandals.
Woodward, who has removed the hand sanitizer from its position and
put it in a locked room, said she would not be using the product again,
instead sourcing non-alcoholic hand cleaning products.
"I had no idea it was 60 to 70 per cent alcohol content." She was relieved the child was okay. "That's the main thing for us." Doug Sellman, director of the National Addictions Center University of Otago, Christchurch, said an average-sized 4-year-old girl would need about 40ml, or eight teaspoons, of hand sanitizer to reach a 188mg level. If she had drunk wine she would have needed one glass to reach the 188mg level, and 1.5 small cans of beer would have been sufficient.
There was "no liquor anywhere in the center at all" that the child could have got access to, she said.
The mother has criticized Woodward's staff for failing to pick up that her daughter was drunk.
Woodward said the only sign the girl was not acting normally was when she stumbled at about 5.15pm, but she put it down to the soles falling off her sandals.
Woodward, who has removed the hand sanitizer from its position and
put it in a locked room, said she would not be using the product again,
instead sourcing non-alcoholic hand cleaning products.
"I had no idea it was 60 to 70 per cent alcohol content." She was relieved the child was okay. "That's the main thing for us." Doug Sellman, director of the National Addictions Center University of Otago, Christchurch, said an average-sized 4-year-old girl would need about 40ml, or eight teaspoons, of hand sanitizer to reach a 188mg level. If she had drunk wine she would have needed one glass to reach the 188mg level, and 1.5 small cans of beer would have been sufficient.
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