By Brad Greer, CEO of DrySee
Summer is here, and families are taking summer vacations. As summer temperatures rise and humidity makes it swampy outside, families will also be looking to local waterways and swimming pools to cool off and have some fun. Summer water safety includes more than not jumping into shallow water and having an adult on watch for signs of drowning at all times. Parents also need to be aware of local bacteria warnings that could put their children at risk for serious infections.
Here are a few tips on how to keep your family safe in the water this summer from bacteria and other dangers:
Always use the buddy system
For kids, it’s important that they constantly have someone with them while they swim, and to keep an eye on them. Initiate the buddy system in your family and ensure an adult is with kids at all times. For water that has a strong current, it’s still easy for even an adult to get swept away quickly, making it important for parents to stay with kids and help them if they are drifting out too far. Even if a lifeguard is present and your kids have attended swimming classes, parents should always be supervising closely and ensuring there is nothing distracting them.
Don’t be afraid to gear up
Even the best swimmers can have a difficult time swimming outside of the pool. Don’t be afraid to have kids and adults wear life jackets while in and around the water, especially if you’re on a boat where things can get crazy. Make sure you have United States Coast Guard-approved life jackets, as well as inflatables like water wings that can help support children.
Cover up wounds, scratches, scrapes, and cuts
Check your family’s bodies and your own for any cuts, scrapes, blisters, or other damage to skin. Even if it’s small, it’s important to cover those with a waterproof bandage. Dangerous bacterial infections can enter even through the smallest scrape or cut. DrySee waterproof bandages have a color-changing gauze that alerts you if the seal of the bandage is compromised so you can clean the wound and apply a new bandage, helping to limit exposure risks and making it easy to know if you’re protected without having to guess.
Rely on the Power of Zinc
Sunny, hot and humid weather and exposure to different skin irritants in waterways can cause rashes and other conditions. Clouds or sunshine, apply zinc to the face daily in the form of a sunscreen that is at least SPF 30 to help reduce risk for sun damage, wrinkles, age spots, and skin cancer. Hot humid weather can trigger an eczema flare-up. Check the labels of over-the-counter creams for one that contains zinc oxide to help treat the rash. For minor burns, scrapes, and cuts apply zinc oxide around the wound site to help reduce infection risk and reduce healing time.
Brush up on CPR skills
That required course you took in high school over a decade or 2 ago likely isn’t going to help you much in the event of an emergency. Parents and even kids 12+ should take a CPR class and become certified before the summer swimming season. Knowing these important skills, especially having familiarity with the steps and how to help save a life, could mean the difference between panic setting in, or staying calm, cool, and collected. You can easily find CPR Training with the American Red Cross or other organizations in your area to gain these lifesaving skills.
Finally, remember that even when time is spent in the pool or at a local waterway and everyone feels cooler as they splash around and have fun, that dehydration is still a real threat. Make sure to have plenty of water and electrolyte drinks on hand and ensure that everyone is drinking enough liquid to stay hydrated.