Daylight savings time and Halloween are coming. Here are some important safety tips for trick-or-treaters and their parents.

Be Crosswalk Safe: When holding a child’s hand crossing the street make sure you are holding their hand rather that the other way around. If they are holding your finger or part of your hand, they could let go. If you have your hand around theirs, then you are in control and they are safer. A little life could depend on it.

Be Street Safe: Avoid dark costumes. Choose light colors or add reflective material to costumes. Carry flashlights. Avoid masks that obscure peripheral vision or teach your children to keep the masks tipped up and back until they ring the doorbell. Stay out of the street except for crosswalks and even then be very careful.

Be House Safe: Check your property yearly, if not more often, for tripping hazards, poor lighting or low branches that could injure a running teen or child. What better month to do this than in October, when on the 31st many strangers may be walking up and back from your front door? Also make sure your pets are not going to put anyone at risk. We see as many injuries from dogs causing trips and falls as we do from bites.

Be Fire Safe: Try to use battery powered lights rather than candles. Avoid costumes with low hanging material or that are not flame-resistant. Teach your children how to “Stop-Drop-and-Roll” (Dropping is the most important part of this)

Be Food Safe: Prepare a large wholesome meal so your family doesn’t overindulge. Inspect candy before your children eat it. Allergies to unfound peanut products are the number one cause of ER visits from halloween candy.

To minimize risk of skin cancer sunscreen is only one part of the picture.  Hats, protective clothing and avoiding the sun between 10AM and 4PM also help.

To ensure protection against both UVA & UVB rays, look for sunscreen that is labelled “broad spectrum” and contains zinc-oxide, titanium-dioxide or avobenzone. Look for an SPF of at least 30.  In the 2007 Consumer Reports analysis to performers were Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch SPF 45 and No-Ad Sunblock Lotion Maximum SPF 45

Apply suscreen 15-30 minutes before sun exposure whenever possible and reapply every 2 hours or sooner if you have been sweating or swimming.  Waterproof products will only last for about 1 hour in the water.  When you buy sunscreen, write the date on it in indelible pen, throw it away after 2 years.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has information for preventing diseases that are the top killers in the US: Heart Disease, Cancer and Stroke.  Not smoking, healthy diet, and regualr visits to your doctor of course top the list.  Click below for more info

Men click here

Women click here

According to some experts, medication errors cause more deaths per year than car crashes, breast cancer or AIDS. The medical, nursing and pharmacy professions as well as your local hospital are all working very hard to minimize medication errors, but you need to do your part as well.

A recent article on this subject ends with the following advice, “Patients should understand their medications, maintain their own medication records, and take responsibility for monitoring them. Patients need to tell their providers how new medications have affected them, and the physicians need to listen.”

You should keep an up to date list of all of your medications, the dosages taken and the condition they are being used to treat. You should also know the most common and most serious side-effects of each medication. You can get this information from your doctor or pharmacist. Finally, when any new medications are being prescribed, whether by a specialist, an emergency doctor or a physician caring for you in the hospital, you need to ask what they are for and if they could interact with any of the medications you are already taking.

You can trust others to do this for you and hope they don’t make any mistakes, or you can take responsibility and make certain they don’t.

GotSafety.ORG is devoted to keeping people safe and out of the Emergency Department (ED). The tips contained in the Monthly Newsletters and Safety Books have been collected from the medical literature, from general health literature and from the stories of thousands of patients I have cared for in the ED.

You can support GotSafety.ORG by spreading the word through a free subscription to our Monthly Newsletter or by purchasing Safety Books for yourself or friends (They make great gifts). In addition, please consider making a $20 donation. Each donation pays for ten copies of the pocket version of Think Twice: More Lessons from the ER as gifts for ten ED patients.

Sincerely,
Brady Pregerson, MD

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The World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research have published a 500-page report highlighting ways to prevent cancer through diet and exercise.

Recommendations include the following:

• Maintain a healthy body weight. Being overweight is linked to at least six types of cancer.
• Exercise 30 to 60 minutes a day.
• Eat no more than 18 oz. of red meat per week,
• Avoid processed meat.
• Limit alcohol to one drink a day for women and two a day for men.
• Consume less than 6 g of sodium daily.
• There is no good data that dietary supplements prevent cancer.

For the complete report on pdf, click the link below
American Institute for Cancer Research report(Free PDF)p>

Falls are a major cause of injury and even death, especially in older adults. (Kurt Vonnegut and George Burns both died from head injuries after a fall.) Injuries can range from simple sprains and lacerations to wrist and shoulder fractures to severe injuries such as hip fractures, neck fractures and intracranial bleeding.

There are many ways to prevent falls. Here are a few.

Prevent slips by immediately cleaning up any spilled liquids from the floor, and by being extra careful whenever it is wet outside.
Prevent trips by installing proper lighting, using caution when you must walk in the dark, keeping floors clean and removing throw rugs that tend to catch your feet.

Prevent fainting spells by getting up slowly from bed, especially if you have been sleeping or have been ill or injured in any way. When you wake, stretch out for about a minute, then sit up leaning slightly backwards for 30 seconds before standing.  Don’t stand up if you feel light-headed, wait.

Be cautious when standing at or after using the toilet, especially in the morning. People often have a drop in blood pressure after using the toilet.  It may be safer to do your business in the seated position (men).  Don’t get up if you feel light headed.

Some gym machines and excercises may not be as safe as others!

For gym excercises to avoid, click here.

Drug companies are in the business of selling their products. Don’t trust everything in their ads or their claims that “Four out of five doctors recommend…” Non-prescription cough medicines have questionable efficacy and are unproven in children, where their side effects can be more severe and risk of inadvertent overdose is higher. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, since 1985 none of the 6 well-done studies of over-the-counter cold medicines have shown any meaningful benefit, and 123 deaths have been identified related to the use of these products.  Many products were recently banned by the FDA for children younger than six. For a list of these products, click here.

Current recommendation are to avoid these medications in children under the age of 6. It’s safer and cheaper to stick to Tylenol for fever, honey for cough (avoid honey in children under 1 year as there is a risk of botulism), and chicken soup to feel better in the time it takes to get better.

If you do use medications, be sure to first discuss with your child’s doctor and to make sure you know how to give the proper amount and aren’t using multiple products with duplicate ingredients.

Also, don’t forget to wash your and your children’s hands often and teach everyone in the family to cough and sneeze either down their shirts or into the crook of their elbow. For a fun and education video on the hygenic way to cough and sneeze click here.