Summer safety a priority

Every summer, approximately 2.7 million children in the United States ages 14 and under are treated in emergency rooms for unintentional injuries, and more than 2,000 die. More children are accidentally injured during the summer months than any other time of year, with about 42 percent of fatal injuries occurring between May 1 and Aug. 31.

In a 2001 study, the National Safe Kids Campaign found that during the summer months, emergency room visits for accidental injuries among children increase nearly 20 percent from the average. This increase is greatest among school-age children.

"Summer is trauma season," said Rene Hopkins, RN, Coordinator of Safe Kids East Central at the MCG Children's Medical Center. "That's when kids are most likely to be riding a bike, swimming, crossing streets and spending time at the playground."

Safe Kids East Central encourages age-appropriate outdoor activity, but also urges appropriate precautions and active supervision. "Simply being near your child is not necessarily supervising," said Hopkins. "A supervised child is in sight and in reach at all times, with your undivided attention focused on the child."

Parents and caregivers should know, and know how to minimize, the risks associated with:

· Swimming. Pools should be surrounded by isolation fences with locked gates. Keep your child in sight and in reach at all times while near a pool or body of water. Swimming lessons and inflatable swimming aids do not prevent drowning; there is no substitute for active supervision. Keep a phone handy and know infant and child CPR.

· Bicycling. Every cyclist needs to wear a properly fitted bike helmet. Children should ride bikes of appropriate size and should not ride without supervision until they have demonstrated safe riding habits and good judgment.

· Playgrounds. Grass, soil and asphalt are not safe surfaces for playground equipment; the ground should be covered 12 inches deep with mulch, shredded rubber or fine sand. Beware of jewelry, bike helmet straps and drawstrings in apparel, which can get caught on playground equipment and strangle a child.

· Traffic. Teach your children to use crosswalks and walk signals when available and only to cross after looking both ways.

· Climbing and falls. Windows above the first floor should be equipped with window guards - a screen does not prevent falls. Supervise children around open windows; about 5,000 kids each year are seriously injured by falling out of windows onto hard surfaces.

This summer, make safety a part of your regular routine and help reduce the incidence of childhood injury.