Summer safety tips from LRH
Summer is here!
Many of us will spend a lot of time in our great outdoors. But… this also means we need to pay extra attention to family safety. While relaxing, injuries are not the first thing on our minds. To quote Dr. Patel, pediatrician at Littleton Regional Healthcare’s North Country Pediatrics Practice, “We want you and your families to get outside as much as possible during the summer. But we also want you to plan ahead to be safe.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) points out that drowning is a leading cause of injury death in children ages 1-14. Each day, 3 children die from drowning. To protect kids from drowning, the CDC urges parents to learn life-saving skills. These include basic swimming, floating and CPR. Fencing off backyard pools with self-closing/latching gates is a must. All young children need life jackets when near water. And young children must be supervised at all times when near any type of water—even the bathtub.
Burn safety
The CDC also cites burns and scalding as leading causes of injury to children. Each day, emergency rooms treat over 300 children between 0 and 19 for burn-related injuries. Knowing how to prevent these accidents is easy. And when cooking outdoors, always be sure an adult stays right by the grille. Same for a campfire. An adult must be in charge. If you have a hose which you hook up to a sprinkler, always let the water run for a few minutes before you join it to the hose. The hot summer sun can heat the water in the hose to temps far above the air temperature—high enough to scald. To learn more about family safety, go to https://www.cdc.gov/safechild/.
We must also do our best to prevent mosquito bites. These insects can spread viruses and other diseases. Different mosquitoes spread different diseases, and they bite at different times of the day. The CDC advises using an insect repellant registered with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). These are proven safe, even for pregnant and breastfeeding women. To find the right one, go to https://www.epa.gov/insect-repellents.
Disclosure: Littleton Regional Healthcare is a financial supporter of Littleton Area Television. For more information on North Country Healthcare, Littleton Regional Healthcare or any of the NCH partners, please visit their website.The images, and content contained within this article appear courtesy of the above mentioned organization. The content appears in part, or in whole, as a submission from the public relations department of the organization. For information on how you may be able to submit to our website for community events or press release news posts such as these, please visit our community bulletin board and public relations sections on our policy page.