HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (WTOC) – Tuesday, June 21 is the Summer Solstice and longest day of the year, so a lot of people in our area will be hitting the pool and beach a lot over the coming months.
Unfortunately, sometimes that comes with accidents.
A Lowcountry doctor says you have to respect the power and potential danger of the ocean when coming out to enjoy vacation, to make sure you or your loved ones aren’t one of the few who wind up in the emergency department each summer for swimming safety issues.
“The ocean is its own animal and we need to understand and appreciate that, so making sure that everybody knows if you’re going out in the ocean, making sure everybody knows where you are, staying close to lifeguard stands and not going too far out,” Hilton Head Hospital Emergency Physician Dr. Erica Mcenery said.
She says people aren’t just brought here from swim accidents on the beach though, and has tips for poolside parents.
“Make sure the kids are supervised, not being left at a pool supervised by other children, that if they don’t know how to swim that they have appropriate flotation devices that their fit appropriately,” Dr. Mcenery said.
She also says to know where all the access points to your pool are, making sure that kids cannot use them to get into the pool unsupervised.
Now obviously that isn’t an option when you’re out on the beach and the ocean has almost endless entry points, so for beach time the best reminder she has is just keep in constant communication with whoever your with – especially as these temperatures climb toward 100 this week.
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