|
|
Summer
Safety
Friday, August 19, 2005
|
|
Summer is such a wonderful time of year, walks in the park, rolling in
the grass eating hot dogs (veggie or beef, you decide).
One thing is for sure, when you spend time outside, you're bound to
come in contact with a pesky bee or poison ivy every once in a while; so go
ahead, print this page and save it for a
bee-stinging-poison-ivy-scratching-kind-of-day--as Edna Mole points out in The
Incredibles movie, "Luck favors the prepared, Dear."
How to Treat
a Bee Sting
- Gently scrape the area with the edge of a
flat surface, like a credit card, to lift the stinger out of the skin (Squeezing with
tweezers can put pressure on the venom sac, releasing more of it into the body
and causing more
pain.)
- Wash the site with soap and water, and
bandage it to keep it clean.
- Apply a cold pack to reduce swelling.
- Get immediate medical help if you
observe signs of allergic reaction:
- excessive swelling
- painful itching
- hives
- trouble breathing
How do you get poison ivy?
- From touching it, or touching something that has touched it,
like your clothes or your dog.
- You normally get it from touching leaves, but yanking the
vine out by the roots-even in winter- will give you a terrible rash.
- Using a weedeater to remove poison ivy will result
in spraying your legs with poison ivy. If you are bare-legged and get scratches while
splattered with sap from poison ivy, you may be headed to the emergency room.
- Breathing smoke from firewood burning with poison
ivy on it can put you in the hospital.
How do you now if you have poison ivy?
- At first you get a slight itchy spot, which gets worse and
worse. It can be a small itchy area that will annoy you, or it can cover your whole
body with giant red sores that will really irritate you.
What do you do if you are exposed to poison ivy?
- Within an hour or so you should rinse with lots of cold water-like
with a garden hose. Hot water will open your pores
and let the oil in. Taking a shower could be a
disaster...
- For up to 6 hours washing with alcohol may still help remove the
oil, buy many say that after 1/2 hour the oil has soaked in and you can't remove it.
The next day is really too late.
- Check with your doctor to see if early treatment can prevent the
rash before it really starts.
Once the itching starts...
- See your doctor or health care provider for professional treatment
whether it be homeopathic or general medicine.
The oil in poison ivy
leaves, vines and roots is called urushiol and it is what
causes the allergic reaction after the first sensitizing exposure.
There are many varieties of poison ivy due to interbreeding so it's
best to say..better safe than sorry and assume it's poison ivy!
log on to www.poison-ivy.org to see MANY good photo
examples of poison ivy!
Just thinking about it makes me want to scratch!
For Every person out there...this is for
you:
CPR Pocket
Guide
Have a Safe Week,
Betth Aldrich
Help us grow!! Pass us on to a
friend.
We welcome your story or ideas for a future FHI Connection!
|
