“DROWNING SEASON” HAS ARRIVED!

Never heard the term, you say? It’s pretty common among EMS personnel, lifeguards and child activists when they talk about the small, lifeless bodies they see every summer lying by swimming pools or on beaches. That’s why so many dread the season. And so many work hard to make parents and caregivers understand the awful truth: A child can drown in 20 seconds or less.

How is that possible? The physiology is simple. People who are drowning hold their breath as long as they can. Then, they automatically breathe in. Water surges into the lungs and stomach, diluting the blood. The blood imbalance causes the heart to stop. The entire process takes 12 to 20 seconds from start to finish. First, there’s panic and a struggle to return to the surface followed by a period of calmness when the body lies limp in the water. Then, water is swallowed. There’s a terminal gasp. The victim falls unconscious and dies.
It’s a scenario that Attorney Jim Adler, a former lifeguard and water safety instructor, dreads. Adler, a member of the Joint City County Commission On Children in Houston and Safe Kids Coalitions in Houston and San Antonio is replacing some of his regularly scheduled TV commercials in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio this summer with a public service announcement about drowning to make sure that parents know the “cold, hard truth” to save their little ones from one of the quickest killers around.

Booster seats save lives for kids in cars

Ever heard of a booster seat? They are life savers for kids who are too old for car seats but not old enough for seat belts. The National Transportation Safety Board says 3,500 child passengers between the ages of 4 and 8 died in traffic accidents between 1998 and 2007. The NTSB says about half of the children were not restrained. Most of the rest were wearing seat belts. Seat belts are not designed for young children who have outgrown car seats. A seat belt can choke a child or cause abdominal injuries during a crash. Booster seats position the belts correctly across a young child’s body. Forty-three states and the District of Columbia require booster seats for child passengers who have outgrown car seats. Twenty-one of these states mandate booster seats for children through age 7. The NTSB is urging Texas and six other states without booster seat laws to pass them soon. Other states that lack such laws include Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Minnesota, Ohio and South Dakota. Pediatricians are behind the push for a booster seat law in Texas during the state’s legislative session that is currently underway. A similar effort failed to win enough votes during Texas 2007 legislative session.
Safe Kids USA, a national safety organization with coalitions in major Texas cities and other cities across the United States, holds free booster and car seat clinics with national experts who train parents and care givers in the proper installation of car seats and booster seats. While car seats can be expensive, booster seats cost about $15.

New drain covers prevent serious summer safety hazard

We all love to cool off in a swimming pool when temperatures reach torrid levels. Floating along on our backs, we watch clouds and enjoy the sounds of summer as others splash in the water nearby. These idyllic scenes turn to horror when a child is sucked up against a powerful swimming pool drain by the hundreds of pounds of pressure that these drains can exert. The suction has disemboweled children, leaving them dead, paralyzed or scarred for life with welts on their abdomens shaped like the drain.
The 7-year old granddaughter of former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker was disemboweled in a pool in 2002. There was nothing emergency room doctors could do to save her life. A federal law now mandates covers for these drains for all pools with public access, including hotels, apartments and residential communities. But enforcement is spotty.
A CNN report in January 2009 revealed that the Consumer Product Safety Commission, a small federal agency, is relying on state health and safety departments to enforce the law. But states have differing enforcement standards. Many pool operators say they have not had enough time to comply with the law and others say they are unable to obtain the drains. Meanwhile, a spokesman for the CPSC says pool owners will be liable if children are hurt in their pools despite difficulties in obtaining drain covers.

‘TIS THE SEASON TO BE CAREFUL WITH TOYS

Santas are always serious about safety. So here are some extra tips from Texas Children’s Hospital and the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission to help them out.

Five toys can land kids in the emergency room quicker than any others: 1) Scooters and riding toys! They can be deadly without a helmet that is sized to fit. 2) Toys with small parts can be swallowed, causing choking. 3) Un-inflated balloons, or pieces of balloons that have burst, can choke and even suffocate small children. 4) The magnets that are often found inside small toy parts can stick together in the intestines causing another life-threatening condition. 5) Chargers and adapters can burn small children. They should not be given to small children without adult supervision.

The Texas Hammer, a new grandfather, urges you to contact Safe Kids Greater Houston for even more info about keeping kids safe over the holidays at www.safekidsgreaterhouston.org. It’s part of Texas Children’s Hospital. Jim S. Adler& Associates is a member of Safe Kids Greater Houston, an organization devoted to protecting children.

The trouble with recalls

It’s simple: Not everybody hears about recalled products even when they get a lot of publicity. So it’s worth bringing up two recent recalls because you and your children need protection from products that can kill babies or – and this isn’t much of a stretch – burn the house down. We’re talking about cribs and laptops, believe it or not.

• The Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled more than one and a half million Delta Enterprise Drop Side Cribs in October after they “trapped and suffocated” two eight month-old babies. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says the cribs have two lethal defects: missing safety pegs and spring peg failure.
• One hundred thousand Sony laptop batteries were recalled in October after 40 incidents of overheating.  Users reported smoke and flames. Twenty-one cases involved damage to property. Minor burns were involved in other instances. Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba and Dell are involved in the recall. In 2006, Sony recalled almost 10 million laptop batteries for fear they could catch fire.

Houston’s 2008 child drowning already top 2007’s

Just because summer’s winding down doesn’t mean pool safety isn’t as crucial as it was when school vacations began. That’s because summer has been anything but a vacation from child drowning tragedies, with Houston in 2008 already eclipsing its total child drowning victims for 2007. By the end of July, Houston had 24 child drownings. In all of 2007, it had 22.
Yet another drowning was added to this year’s list on Aug. 11, when a 16-year-old boy who was visiting a cousin at an apartment complex in northwest Houston drowned while swimming by himself. Family members indicated the boy wasn’t a good swimmer, but that didn’t stop him from trying. And since no one was responsible for watching him, it was too late when he was spotted on the bottom of the pool to rescue and save him.Some safety experts say it takes only 20 seconds for a child to drown. That means every child who swims should be closely monitored at all times. Leaving the poolside for even a minute to grab more sunscreen or take a call is hardly worth the possible tragic tradeoff of having a young person drown. So even with summer vacation ending, no one should take a vacation from swimming safety and vigilance.

Car safety factors to become more visible for consumers

Kick the tires. Check under the hood. All finished and ready to buy? Not really. What about the most important component of any new vehicle: safety? Sure, you can check for yourself online or elsewhere, but do you really have authoritative answers? Maybe not – not yet. But starting with 2010 model cars, you will. When they hit dealerships in 2009, they’ll be the first to be sold under improvements to a federal government five-star safety rating program. As a result we will have – for the first time – an overall safety rating combining side, frontal and rollover crash tests. New cars also will gain a first-time rating on new crash-avoidance technologies, such as lane departure warning systems, electronic stability control and forward collision warning systems. This rating will alert consumers as to whether such elements are optional or standard features on the new vehicle they’re considering. Until then, you should do all you can to check out a car’s safety before you buy it. Getting a car in your favorite color is one thing. Having a car that’s as safe as possible is everything.

Safety in the Sun

Play it safe! Drink plenty of water and other fluids throughout the day, especially when you’re engaged in strenuous activities, and also when temperatures hit the 90s or above. Avoid alcohol and caffeine drinks, which won’t help hydrate your body. Good old fashioned water is your best bet, along with juice. And you should drink these vital liquids regularly, whether you feel thirsty or not.

That doesn’t mean you should exercise outdoors all you want, just because you’re drinking proper fluids. You might want to scale down your exertions in the heat of the day. The best times for vigorous activities are in the early morning hours, just before and just after sunrise. Like a good breakfast, exercise is a solid way to start out a day. If your outdoor activity ensues despite the heat or time of day, at least try to take breaks. Playing organized softball with some friends? Don’t wait for the “seventh inning stretch.” Maybe call a truce after three innings and take a water break in the shade, then resume play. Playing nonstop despite the heat might be a strike-out for your body, and it’s at least a foul ball.

Of course, when possible, you can plan some of your summer activities for indoors. Then you won’t need to take a heat break.

Outside, be sure to wear protective sunscreen over your exposed body parts, and for those that you cover, pay less attention to fashion than to comfort. That means dressing lightly, both in terms of fabric (cottons are good) and colors (white and light colors reflect much of sunlight’s heat, while black and dark colors absorb it).While you’ve got a green light to gulp down more fluids, don’t apply such binging to foods. When you do eat, try to have small, light meals, such as a turkey sandwich with mustard, not mayo, and a cup of fruit. Skip the chips and fries, and avoid salt, sugar and fat. Besides, you can eat such smaller meals more often, because it helps your metabolism to space out food intake.

Do these things and you should have a healthier, happier summer. And don’t forget to take time to take it easy. The body needs rest as well as exercise, and those lazy, crazy days of summer are as good a time as any to get it.