Weekly Health Minute: Celebrating July 4th Safely

WGTS 91.9 with Jerry and Summer. Oh, it won't be long now. I can taste it already. Fourth of July is right around the corner. But there's so much going on with the fourth of July that has the potential to be dangerous. We're gonna talk about keeping you safe over the holiday.

That's why we have Doctor Neil Roy. He's the Chief Medical Officer at Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center. He's here with us today to remind us about some safety tips that we should be implementing this holiday weekend. Okay. So Doctor Roy, many people are going be hanging out outside on fourth of July. How can we stay safe while still enjoying all that summer weather?

Yeah. That's a good question. So there are a few major tenants to heat safety. The first of which is hydration.

During the course of the day, you really wanna be deliberate about drinking water, juice, nonalcoholic beverages during the day to make sure you're staying properly hydrated. The second major component is heat avoidance, which means if you start feeling hot, feeling uncomfortable, go inside. And then really being attuned to your body and being aware of the way you're feeling. And the last thing is really being cognizant of mixing things like alcohol and drugs and a severe exertion while being outside.

Alcohol suppresses your ability to recognize when you're thirsty, when you're hot, when you're tired, and if you're exerting yourself severely, you're sweating way more typically than you can keep up. So by remembering those three pillars, namely hydrating, coming back inside, and then avoiding alcohol, you can really make sure you're staying safe on this holiday weekend.

Obviously, food is a huge part of fourth July celebrations. What do we need to keep in mind for cooking safety?

So with food safety, the number one thing is making sure your food is cooked thoroughly. Undercooking meat, especially if it's been sat outside or been sitting outside for a period of time, can predispose you to have bacterial infections that can make you fairly sick. We all hear about those e coli infections. Commonly that can happen from undercooked or raw meat that's been left at room temperature for a period of time. So you wanna mitigate that. You wanna clean the surfaces that you're cooking or eating on thoroughly before using them because surfaces that stay out, especially if they've had food on them, predispose bacteria from growing.

The next thing is you don't want to leave food like potato salad or rice out for a period of time. Dairy, cheeses, those are all sources of bacteria if they're left out.

Then you get to the actual preparation.

Every year, a few people burn their hands by, being a little aggressive with the grills, starting them, using too much lighter fluid. If you have not used your grill in a while, pull up a YouTube video on how to safely use the grill and to make sure that you're not, going to hurt yourself more than you need to, especially when you're connecting your propane tank to your grill, loading up the charcoal. Just make sure you're using your equipment correctly to prevent any chance of getting hurt or getting burned. Likewise, while grilling, if you don't have them, try and buy some heat protection gloves from your hands. You can have them shipped and arrive in a day. You can buy them in most stores.

Frequently, people will be grilling. They won't pay attention. They'll reach and use their hand and burn their fingers and have some significant injuries that could have otherwise been avoided.

Everything that goes down after the sun goes down. That's what it's known for, fourth of July, like campfires, fireworks, stuff like that. So how can we keep our family safe during these events?

Right. Fireworks are dangerous. They're fundamentally explosives. Every emergency room physician in the country has seen a significant firework injury at some point.

That being said, so ideally, we'd like to avoid using fireworks and not have your children use sparklers or fireworks because the tip of a sparkler can be extremely hot and very easily burn you. That being said, if you must really be deliberate about looking at the instructions on how to use fireworks safely, effectively, and be as far away as possible. Do not point them at anyone. Make sure you fully light the fuse.

You stay away from the fireworks when they're going off. From a campfire bonfire standpoint, really have a thorough circle of safety around them. If it's been dry outside or there's dry there's dry brush around, lighting a fire can quickly spread and become too large. Lighter fluid is also highly combustible, so be really careful when using any lighter fluid in any context, whether it's grilling or starting a bonfire or a campfire, and then make sure you're staying as far away as possible.

Last thing, children, don't know to be careful around fire. I have a three year old and a seven month old. My three year old will touch whatever he can.

It is really important to keep them as far away from anything flammable or combustible during the holiday season.

Give us some alternatives. What are some fun and safe ways we can celebrate the holidays with our families?

Really, the biggest things are spending time and having conversations and gathering with groups of people and catching up with people you don't normally see. Connecting with your loved ones in person without screens is so valuable, so good for your health, and really allows you to build connections you otherwise wouldn't have. The next thing is really having a moment of gratitude and appreciating why we're here and how blessed we are to have such a wonderful life and to be capable of celebrating the holiday. Then sports. Playing, being active outdoors in limited periods of time to where you're not overheating or cooling down really goes a long way in making sure that we're connected, staying active, healthy. And those are the three things that I like to build my fourth of July around.

Hey. You wanna hear that whole conversation again with Doctor Neil Roy, you can check it out and and other health minutes at our website, wgts91.9.com. And as always, a huge thanks to Adventist HealthCare for sponsoring today's health minute.