Hospital, others offer summertime safety advice
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Summertime and the living is easy. But it’s also easy to wind up hurt or in the emergency room.
Jenna Enscoe, the director of emergency services for Butler Memorial Hospital for the last four years, is in charge of oversight of the emergency department. She's responsible for facilitating and coordinating patient flow and the care of critically injured and ill people.
The emergency room is under her direct supervision. Enroe said the types of cases showing up in the ER change during the summer.
Enscoe said, “Heat emergencies are certainly a large population, heat stroke and heat exhaustion.”
The two conditions can affect all ages and conditions. They’re caused by high temperatures combined with high humidity and strenuous physical activity.
She said heat stroke is the more severe condition. Symptoms include feeling light-headed, dizzy and even passing out.
“It happens when the core temperature raises to a level that is insufficient for normal function,” Enscoe said. “Heat stroke symptoms require more care, and they can become critical very quickly if left untreated.”
Heat exhaustion, whose symptoms include a headache and dizziness, excessive sweating, feeling sick and being very thirsty, is less severe. Enscoe said it can be eased by resting and getting fluids in the body.
In the summer, she added, people are pretty prone to dehydration.
The opposite of dehydration is the concern of Jamie Boyle, the manager of SEBCO Pool in Jefferson Township, and her crew of 17 lifeguards.
They’re on alert to keep swimmers safe while they are in the pool.
Lifeguards have to pass a Red Cross course and be recertified every two years, Boyle said. She also schedules service days for lifeguards to go over the pool’s emergency action plan and to keep their skills sharp.
Eve Merhaut of Butler, a four-year veteran lifeguard, said, “Generally, lifeguards have to find classes on their own. They’re a week long. They cover first aid and CPR and there are two written tests.”
Three-year lifeguard Eva Fields of Saxonburg said the classes also cover different techniques for saving drowning victims.
Boyle said, to keep the lifeguards’ attention from wandering while they’re in their chairs, “We’ll throw a T-shirt in the pool and see how long it takes for them to spot it and blow the whistle.”
Preventing unsupervised access to water, providing constant, active adult supervision and knowing how to swim are critical layers of protection to prevent drowning, according to Nicole Roschella, regional communications manager for the American Red Cross Greater Pennsylvania Region.
Drowning behavior is typically fast and silent. Unless rescued, a drowning person will last only 20 to 60 seconds before submerging.
At SEBCO, in the case of a real emergency, three blasts from the whistle of one of the four lifeguards always on duty when the pool is open will start the emergency action plan.
Boyle said, “The first responder sees the drowning victim, the second responder guard gets the backboard, the third responder at the gate calls 911, and the fourth and fifth lifeguards aid the first responder or begin crowd control.”
In addition, Boyle said the pool has a first aid cabinet filled with bandages, alcohol swabs and other medical supplies.
It’s not just pools that can be dangerous. Because it’s summer, people are out and about engaging in all kinds of activities that can lead to all kinds of injuries.
Enscoe said, “We see a lot of extremity injuries because of people’s activities. They are biking, picnicking, and we see anything from broken bones, cuts, scrapes, lacerations up to and including serious and life-threatening injuries from RV driving, quads and motorcycles and that kind of thing.”
Surprisingly, she said, the emergency room doesn’t see many sunburn cases. Enscoe said sunburn sufferers mostly go to urgent care clinics for treatment.
People should have a first aid kit available for the inevitable summer bumps and scraps. Enscoe said a kit should contain bandages, gauze, Band-Aids and sterile water to use in cleaning wounds.
“Ace wraps are always a good thing to have,” she said, “and there are hot and cold packs that you can buy over the counter.”
In the aftermath of a mishap, Enscoe said that the first action should be to make sure the victim is in a safe place.
“Stabilize the spine and neck, control any mass bleeding and then manage any secondary or other injuries as well. And, of course, calling for help is the biggest priority,” she said.
