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Health & Fitness

Keep Safe This Summer with Pool Safety Tips from the New Lenox Fire Protection District

Temperatures are rising and students are now out of school. Along with the warmer weather comes summer fun: barbecues, sunny days at the park, and pool parties.


It seems most people know pool rules, but not everyone follows them. However, even when following the basic rules (no running, do not dive in shallow water), accidents can occur. In 2010, over 3,600 people died from drowning, roughly 20% were children 14 and younger. For every child who dies from drowning, another five receive emergency department care for nonfatal submersion injuries. Home pool drowning is the leading cause of death in children under the age of 5, only a momentary lack of supervision puts the child at risk. But, drowning is 100% preventable.

 

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Keep your family safe with the following tips from the New Lenox Fire Protection District.

General Pool Safety:

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·         Stay close, be alert and watch for children in around the pool.

·         Always have a designated active supervisor, even when at a community pool with lifeguards on duty.

·         Teach children the basic water safety tips.

·         Learn how to swim and teach children how to swim.

·         Have weak swimmers wear a life jacket; do not rely on water wings or inflatable toys.

·         Avoid drinking alcohol before or during swimming. Among adolescents and adults, alcohol use is involved in up to 70% of deaths associated with water recreation.

·         Keep children away from pool drains, pipes and other openings to avoid entrapments.

·         Have a portable phone close by at all times when using a pool or spa.

·         If a child is missing, check the pool and spa first.

·         Share safety instructions with family, friends and neighbors.

·         Learn to perform CPR on children and adults, and update those skills regularly.

·         Understand the basics of life-saving so that you can assist in a pool emergency.

 

Have Appropriate Equipment for Your Pool or Spa

·         Install a four-foot or taller fence around the pool and spa and use self-closing and self latching gates; ask your neighbors to do the same at their pools.

·         Keep toys that are not in use away from the pool and out of sight. Toys can attract young children to the pool.

·         Install and use a lockable safety cover on your spa.

·         Install pool and gate alarms to alert you when children go near the water.

·         Ensure any pool and spa you use has compliant drain covers, and ask your pool service provider if you do not know.

·         Maintain pool and spa covers in good working order.

·         Consider using a surface wave or underwater alarm.

·         Consider creating a pool safety toolkit for your home pool or spa. Include: first aid kit, pair of scissors to cut hair, clothing or a pool cover if needed, a charged portable phone to call 9-1-1, and a flotation device.

 

The primary mission of the New Lenox Fire and Ambulance Protection District is to provide a range of programs designed to protect the lives and property within New Lenox Village and Township from the effects for fires and sudden medical emergencies or exposure to dangerous conditions created by man or nature with professional, compassionate, and quality service.

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