ST. LUCIE COUNTY \u2013 The Florida Department of Health in St. Lucie County (DOH-St. Lucie) promotes National Water Safety Month, observed each May, to educate the community on drowning prevention and how to safely enjoy the state\u2019s many lakes, rivers, beaches, and pools.<\/p>\n
Water safety is everyone\u2019s responsibility. Whether you are a parent, caregiver, neighbor, or community group member, everyone plays a role in drowning prevention. Data shows that children ages 1-4 are most likely to drown in a home swimming pool. Children ages 5 and older are more likely to drown in natural bodies of water.<\/p>\n
Water Safety Tips<\/p>\n
Always keep your eyes on children in and around water, including bathtubs, pools, and open bodies of water.Never leave a child alone around water. If your child is missing, check pools and surrounding bodies of water. Use barriers to prevent children from entering bodies of water, such as fences, self-closing\/self-latching gates, and secure doors with alarms. Have a phone nearby in case you need to call 9-1-1 in an emergency. Avoid swimming in a body of water with an open cut or wound. If there\u2019s bacteria in the water, it can enter the body through a cut or wound. If a cut or wound happens when in the water, it should be washed with clean, running water and soap and covered with a clean, dry, bandage.<\/p>\n
Beach and Lake Swimming<\/p>\n
Swimming in open water is different than swimming in a pool. Even the strongest swimmer can get into trouble swimming in open water. Follow these tips when swimming at the beach or lake:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Swim It: Always swim with a buddy, and when safety flags and signs give it the all-clear to do so.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Shore It: If you have a weakened immune system, a cut on your skin, or don\u2019t have a buddy to swim with, stay on dry land.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Dodge It: If you encounter animals that live near or in the water, stay away. Also, do not drink, swim, wade, use personal watercrafts, or come into contact with waters where there are visible algal blooms like red tide and blue-green algae. For current information on red tide or blue-green algae, please visit Protecting Florida Together or the Florida Department of Environmental Protection\u2019s Algal Bloom Dashboard.<\/p>\n
For more information, contact DOH-St. Lucie at 772-462-3800.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. LUCIE COUNTY \u2013 The Florida Department of Health in St. Lucie County (DOH-St. Lucie) promotes National Water…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172,563],"class_list":["post-284983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news","tag-st_lucie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}