Summer safety
By CARRIE FRILLMAN
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DeKALB – Samantha Andersen’s cardinal rule while watching children enrolled in her summer camp is to start every day with sunscreen.
“Sun safety is very important to us,” said the 20-year-old camp counselor, who was at the Hopkins Park Aquatic Center last Wednesday with a group of 30 kids from Cornerstone Christian Academy. “But safety overall is, of course, our No. 1 priority.”
Now that schoolchildren are on summer break, local officials offered tips this week to ensure prevention of injury, sickness and sunburn.
Cindy Graves, director of emergency services for KishHealth System, said the volume of patients in local emergency rooms typically decreases during the warmer months. But that’s not to say accidents don’t happen.
“I do think we tend to see more pediatric injuries,” she said, adding that the “pediatric” sector includes anyone 17 years old or younger. “There’s a rise in vehicle accidents ... a lot of kids are out cruising.”
Graves not only stressed vehicle safety – encouraging all vehicle passengers to wear their seat belts – but bike safety, too.
She said kids should never leave home on their bicycles without a helmet.
“Other bones will mend,” Graves said. “But the brain ... you’ve gotta protect that brain.”
Wearing helmets is especially important for young children, she said, because their brains are in the early stages of development.
“The younger years are the more formative years,” Graves said. “A brain injury early on is going to stay with them much more severely during those years than say, a 20-year-old.”
While physical activities can sometimes pose the risk of injury, extreme heat can lead to exhaustion and illness, officials said.
DeKalb County Health Administrator Karen Grush said residents trying to beat the heat can visit local cooling centers at the Illinois Department of Human Services in Sycamore, available during business hours, and the DeKalb Oasis over Interstate 88, which is open all day every day.
Otherwise, they could opt to spend the day at a local pool, like Carrie Manigel does.
The Sycamore mom kept a close eye on her daughter Wednesday while she swam in the children’s pool at Hopkins Park Aquatic Center.
Her advice to ensure safety while swimming is to get kids used to being in water at an early age, she said.
“I feel like it’s good to get them acclimated to water, other than being in the bathtub,” Manigel said. “And getting them into swimming lessons teaches them how to take instruction from someone other than the mother.”
Grush said that as the temperatures rise, it’s important to practice healthy nutrition and hydration habits, and it can be easy for kids to lose track of those responsibilities when they are busy swimming or playing outside.
“Our basic thing is that if it’s really hot out, drink plenty of fluids,” she said. “Do not wait until you get thirsty. Also try to reduce or eliminate drinks that have lots of caffeine or alcohol because those can rob you of nutrients.”
Finally, she stressed that children and pets should never be left unattended in a hot car.
