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Health & Fitness

Be in the Swim of Things, But Think Safety First

For many people, Memorial Day was the unofficial beginning of summer and the launch of swimming season.  With that in mind, the Somerset County Public Health & Safety Department wants residents to take necessary precautions to stay safe and healthy throughout the swimming season.

“Swimming is a wonderful way to exercise and enjoy family and friends,” said Freeholder Deputy Director Mark Caliguire.  “However, the many benefits of swimming and the pure pleasure of being in the water on a hot day can have a downside due to drowning, injury and illness.

“The good news is that all of these drawbacks can be prevented with caution and knowledge,” he said.

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Drowning is the sixth leading cause of unintentional injury death for people of all ages, and the second leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 14 years.  For more info, visit bit.ly/RecWaterSafety.Following are a few things you can do to ensure that swimmers are safe in your home pool and elsewhere:

  • Make sure everyone in your family knows how to swim and find out which visitors don’t know how to swim
  • Provide continuous, attentive supervision of swimmers
  • Learn how to administer CPR to children and adults
  • Use life jackets appropriately
  • Prevent access to water when your pool is not in use by installing and maintaining barriers such as four-sided fencing and weight-bearing pool covers and/or using locks/alarms on windows and doors, if you have small children and non-swimmers in your family.

 It’s also important to prevent injuries that can be caused by the mishandling of pool chemicals.  Pool chemicals are added to the water to kill germs and maximize disinfection.  However, each year improper use of pool chemicals leads to 3,000 to 5,000 visits to emergency departments across the United States. For more information, visit bit.ly/PoolChemsInjury .

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 A few tips on preventing injuries and potentially explosive reactions are:

  • Read and follow directions on product labels
  • Wear appropriate safety equipment, such as goggles and masks, as directed
  • Secure pool chemicals to protect people and animals from getting into them
  • Add pool chemicals when no one is in the water
  • Never mix different pool chemicals with each other, especially chlorine products with acid; never pre-dissolve pool chemicals, unless specifically directed on the product label; and never add water to a pool chemical; pool chemicals should be added to water.

Illness caused by germs in places we swim is another concern for swimmers.  In 2009–2010, 57 outbreaks in the United States were linked to pools.  Remember, chlorine and other disinfectants kill most germs within minutes, but some can survive for days. Urine and sweat mix with chlorine and form chemicals that can make eyes red and trigger asthma attacks. Therefore, it’s important to keep germs, feces and urine out of the water we swim in. For more information, visit  www.cdc.gov/healthyswimming .

Swimmers in home and public pools should:

  • Not swallow the water
  • Stay out of the water if they have diarrhea
  • Shower with soap before going swimming
  • Take children on bathroom breaks every 60 minutes, or check diapers every 30 to 60 minutes.

For more information on swimming-pool safety, visit bit.ly/WaterIllness  .

For more information about public health in Somerset County, contact Michele Samarya-Timm, health educator/registered environmental health specialist, of the Somerset County Department of Health at 908.541.5749 or SamaryaTimm@co.somerset.nj.us

 

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