Kids' Wellness Matters Podcast Ep. 23: Keeping Kids Safe in the Summer

In this episode Michelle Macy, MD, MS, an attending physician of Emergency Medicine at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, covers a range of safety tips for common summer injuries, including heat-related concerns, water safety and road trip precautions. Dr. Macy provides practical evidence-based advice to help parents keep their children safe and healthy during the summer months. 

“Assign somebody to be a water watcher, even if you're at a place where there's a lifeguard, because the lifeguards are taking care of everybody in a facility or on a beach and you and your family or friends might be the only one who sees your child at the moment that they're having a little bit of trouble. We want to  be sure that families are thinking about fashion when it comes to water safety, because yellow, pink, red bathing suits are more visible underwater. And so we want to encourage those bright colors because they have a good contrast with the water so that if a child goes under, it's a little bit easier to find them.”  

-Dr. Michelle Macy 

Show Notes

• Macy says heat-related illnesses like dehydration can be common during warmer months, but chronic illnesses such as asthma can be worsened by the heat due to changes in the air quality. 

• Last year 40 children died due to being left in a hot car. Dr. Macy warns that changes in routines can lead to children accidentally being left in hot cars. For example, a parent who doesn’t typically do daycare drop-offs forgets they have the child in the car, the child falls asleep during the drive and the adult goes to work, leaving the child in the hot car unattended, accidentally.  

• She says adults who are driving children should leave important items like wallets, phones, or purses in the backseat near a child so they are reminded that the child is in the car with them. 

• Adults should ensure helmets are worn when children ride bikes and scooters. Helmets need to cover foreheads completely to the browline and fit snugly under the chin.  

• Parents and caregivers should look for signs on the playground indicating recommended age ranges and not let children too young play on “older child” equipment. Any safety concerns with equipment should be reported to the local parks and rec boards or city for repairs.  

• Drowning is a leading cause of death for children. Always have someone watching for the safety of children in the water, even if a lifeguard is present.  

• Macy also warns that children who use floating devices in pools often don’t realize they aren’t independent in water and can provide a false confidence in the water.  

• Wearing bright colored swimwear (yellow and red) in pools can keep children visible under water. She also says life jackets should always be worn in open water, no matter how strong of a swimmer a child may be.  

• Seatbelts should be worn at all times on roadtrips, no matter how long the drive. Purchase new and up to date car seats, keeping children in a 5 point harness for as long as possible and graduate to the next size of car seat or booster until the child is about 11 years old. 

• Macy recommends parents use their pediatrician as their first line of contact for concerns about their child’s health and reserve ER visits for broken bones, concussions, and other severe cases. 

Transcript 

[00:00:00] Dr. Nina Alfieri: Welcome to Kids' Wellness Matters. I am Dr. Nina Alfieri. 

[00:00:07] Dr. Rob Sanchez: And I'm Dr. Rob Sanchez. We are both parents and pediatricians at the world renowned, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. 

[00:00:15] Dr. Nina Alfieri: On this show, we'll chat with a wide range of experts about caring for children from newborn to young adults because kids' wellness matters. 

[00:00:29] Dr. Rob Sanchez: Summer's here and that means more outdoor fun with kids. But with the change in season comes a spike in some not so fun visits to the pediatrician or even the emergency room. 

[00:00:38] Dr. Nina Alfieri: It's true during the summer months, we tend to see more accidents that take place outdoors and even heat and water related incidents, unfortunately. 

[00:00:46] Dr. Rob Sanchez: Our guest today, Dr. Michelle Macy, has seen it all. She's a pediatric emergency medicine specialist here at Lurie Children's. And we are happy to have her on the show today. She cares for kids who come to the ER with acute illnesses and injuries. But she's also a researcher and advocate who partners with parents and community leaders to discover new and better ways to eliminate injuries associated with child passenger safety and water safety. We welcome her to the show today to talk about the most common summer injuries and children and strategies to keep kids safe during the warmest, and most fun, months of the year. Welcome Dr. Macy. 

[00:01:23] Dr. Michelle Macy: Thanks so much for having me. 

[00:01:25] Dr. Nina Alfieri: First I wanna just zoom out a little bit. How did you get started with work? 

[00:01:28] Dr. Michelle Macy: The spot that really started to resonate with me in this work is in the emergency department, where we see kids who have injuries. We see kids who are sick, and in that moment we can do so much. But as you start to understand more about injury, you learn really quickly that the vast majority of injuries are preventable. And so I really am in this area of work and research to put some of our emergency care outta business. And I think it would be a tremendous success if we could empower more families to be able to keep their kids safer and not need to come into the ER. 

[00:02:08] Dr. Nina Alfieri: That's great, I know a parent and a pediatrician myself, I will do anything to keep my kids safe. And so it's really great to have your expertise. Let's talk a little bit about it. We'll start with heat because I'm looking at the beautiful sun outside. New research is suggesting that heat is associated with higher risk of emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and ambulance calls among children. What are some of the most common injuries that you see in the emergency department this time of year that are related to heat ? 

[00:02:35] Dr. Michelle Macy: Yeah, heat is definitely something that we're starting to think about more and really tuning into all of the extreme weather that's going on. When the temperatures turn up, I think that we end up having a lot of kids get into situations where they're dehydrated, and so that can be a common reason to come into the ER or because the weather's nice and it's Chicago and we're locked up all winter long, people are out and being active, and so that comes with it some inherent risks of falls and trips and other ways that kids are gonna get hurt. And some of the things we'll talk about today, I think will be able to help make those injuries more minor or prevent them all together. 

[00:03:17] Dr. Nina Alfieri: Heat can worsen chronic conditions that kids have, I know one we commonly see is asthma. What should parents know about the connection between heat and asthma? 

[00:03:24] Dr. Michelle Macy: Yeah, when the heat turns up and we're thinking about conditions like asthma the air changes and so we'll see more ozone in the air. And in the last couple weeks and in the last several summers, we're even getting the impacts of wildfires in the air. And that comes into the Midwest, even though we're not in an environment where you really think about that risk of wildfires directly. And so when those ozone and other particles get into the air, that can be a trigger for kids with asthma. And then in the summertime and spring, there's a lot of pollen up in the air, and that's another factor. So those warm weather changes to the air can really be triggers for kids with asthma. And then the other thing that we think about with asthma is when kids get a little bit dehydrated, and it's not necessarily the dehydration that needs to go in the ER and get an IV, but maybe the dehydration where they're not going to the bathroom to make pee as often, or the pee's getting a little bit darker. And with that, their mucus is a little bit thicker and that can make their airways a little bit more reactive. And so those things together can be important ways that the heat can contribute to worsening symptoms for kids with asthma. And it's really important for families to keep on those regular controller medications throughout the summer and keep their rescue inhalers at hand. So making sure those go to the soccer field and other locations where kids are having fun so they can take that if it's needed. 

[00:04:48] Dr. Nina Alfieri: And with more kids playing outside in the heat, what are warning signs of issues like heat exhaustion or heat stroke, and when should parents seek medical attention for that? 

[00:04:57] Dr. Michelle Macy: Yeah, I think that days like today when we're hitting 90 in the area, it's definitely a good time for us to be thinking about heat illness. Heat exhaustion and heat stroke are two of the things that people will be thinking about this time of year and on hot days. When somebody's getting into trouble with heat exhaustion, they're gonna be really red in the face. They're gonna be sweating a lot. They might be out of breath or get a little bit dizzy. And then when we go into more severe heat illness, they might have muscle cramps or confusion or pass out. If parents start to notice their kids looking really red in the face, they're sweating all over the place. They're getting tired out. That's a signal to get into a cooler environment, get in front of a fan, get into air conditioning in the shade of a tree, and start encouraging hydration. So hydration with water, if you're in athlete practice electrolytes, but wanting to be mindful about, avoiding drinks that have caffeine or a lot of sugar in them because those can create a situation where it makes more urine happen and kids can become dehydrated because they've got too much sugar and caffeine in the mix. So lots of water. Cool environment. The other thing that people can do to try to avoid the situation from becoming heat exhaustion in the first place is being mindful of when families are going outside. And so not having kids out in the most hot moments of the day, going out in the mornings or in the evening hours when it's a little bit cooler. That can be helpful. One of the other things you asked me about was when to go to the ER and if you've got a child who's looking a little bit red and they get cooled off and you get some water and they're back to themselves, that's something that's totally safe to manage at home. But if they don't seem like they're getting better, check in with their pediatrician, but if they ever go on to have those symptoms of really intense muscle cramps, or if they've passed out or they're very dizzy, those would be times that we'd wanna see them in the emergency department. 

[00:06:57] Dr. Nina Alfieri: This time of year there's always some really sad stories about injuries from children in hot cars, and I wanted to ask you about the context in which that happens. And what we can do to really prevent that, knowing that obviously these were all accidents that no one meant to happen. Talk about hot cars and what we can do as parents to prevent that kind of injury. 

[00:07:18] Dr. Michelle Macy: Last year we lost about 40 kids to death when they were accidentally left in a hot car. And one of the things that is consistent in a lot of these stories for families is that it happened on a day where there was a change in their routine. And so the family had one parent not be the usual kindergarten, drop off parent or preschool, drop off parent. And they ended up with a child in their car and they did their usual routine going to work and the child fell asleep on the way. They weren't making any noise, and it just isn't part of their routine to be thinking about the child. So some of the ways that we've talked about as prevention strategies for families is to have their childcare providers notify the family if the child isn't dropped off on their usual timeframe. Also, having families put something important in the backseat of the car with the child, like your phone, your purse, your briefcase or bag, something that you're always in the habit of wanting to have when you get down to your desk and get started at work. And then other things that we can do to be sure that kids don't accidentally get into cars that are hot is make sure that they're always locked up and that kids don't have access to the keys or the car fob. Kids can sometimes think it would be fun to get into a car, and so making sure that they don't have that access can be really important. 

[00:08:40] Dr. Nina Alfieri: That's really helpful and obviously something we all wanna remember and think about. Let's talk a little bit about bikes and scooters. I'm thinking about my three and a half year old who recently got her first bike and she rides it all the time. We know helmets are essential. How can we make sure that helmets are really doing their job? And what should we think about when we use bikes and scooters? 

[00:08:59] Dr. Michelle Macy: Yeah, one of the things that I emphasize a lot with families in the emergency department is that we're really good at fixing broken bones and cuts, but it's really hard for us to do healing in a brain that gets injured, and so that prevention and protection for a head is our highest priority and families can really keep their kids' heads safe by making sure that helmet goes on. And one of the things, my kids are older, but I often see my kids' friends riding around the neighborhood on their bikes with the helmet on the handlebars. And not on their heads. And it doesn't do any good if it's not being worn. When a family is making sure that a helmet's sitting correctly, we want that front edge of the helmet to be just above the kids' eyebrows. So one of the common things that'll happen is kids will slip those helmets back to the back of their head and their forehead is showing that's a sign that the helmet isn't fitting properly. And if they fell forward, then their forehead would get bonked. And so we wanna be sure that the bottom edge of that helmet goes right above their eyebrows. And then we wanna make sure that the strap is right under their chin and snug enough that they can open their mouth. But not that it can slip around or fall back like I was talking about, making that forehead show. 

[00:10:17] Dr. Nina Alfieri: And now thinking about where we like to bike to, playgrounds are packed at this time of year, but they're also a common source of injury. What can parents do to ensure that their child's favorite playground is actually safe? 

[00:10:29] Dr. Michelle Macy: Yeah, playgrounds are definitely a busy, fun place and a source of a lot of injuries and a lot of those injuries are the kinds that will heal in a matter of a few weeks to a month or two. But definitely getting a cast is gonna put a damper on all the summer fun that we have. So, we'll want families to be paying attention to the equipment on the playgrounds and most equipment will have labels on it for the age and size of kids that should be using that equipment. We definitely don't want kids using equipment that's for a 5 to 12-year-old. If it's your 3-year-old. Those 5 to 12-year-old equipment situations are ones that fit the development and the coordination of bigger kids and aren't right for the coordination of a toddler or younger kid. Another really important safety measure that you can check in on for the playgrounds that you're picking from, is that they've got good surfaces in place that are gonna help cushion a fall if it happens. You wanna have wood chips or pea gravel that's at least 12 inches or more deep. If that's not there, then a fall could have a greater impact and a kid could have more of an injury. There's also playgrounds that have that rubber chip or the rubber mats, and that's another safety feature that's available. And then you'll also wanna just check and make sure that the equipment all looks like it's a good repair. So if you see something that looks sharp or something that looks like it's broken, you wanna notify the local park district or the city government and make sure that they're aware that they've got some equipment that might need to be attended to. 

[00:12:05] Dr. Nina Alfieri: Those are great tips. And now I'm thinking about our favorite park and right next to it is our favorite swimming pool. I wanna ask you a little bit about drowning prevention. Drowning remains one of the leading causes of death for young children, especially during the summer. What are some important water safety practices that parents can follow? 

[00:12:22] Dr. Michelle Macy: Yeah, thanks for asking about water safety. It's something that has been a really important area for me and a really big focus for us at Lurie Children's, with Chicago being on Lake Michigan and all the beautiful parks and beaches that we have available, we really have an opportunity here to help address the leading cause of death for kids who are one to four. And one of the ways that we've been working on helping families have better education about water safety is through a partnership with our Goldfish Swim Schools of Chicagoland. And with a generous donation, we've been able to develop a new care plan in MyChart, which is our electronic health record patient portal and families who have kids who are in the Lurie Children's system receive messages three to four times a year about water safety. And there's a message that comes out at the start of the swim season in the summer with some tips about staying safe at the beach and at pools. And with that, we wanna be sure that families are really trying to focus on times and locations where there are lifeguards, because lifeguards have been shown to be really effective in helping people stay safe and also being able to respond if somebody gets in trouble. One of the other things that we focus on in these messages that we've worked on with the Goldfish Swim School partnership is working towards arms reach supervision for young children who don't yet know how to swim independently. And then really thinking about ways to prevent access to pools and the lakefront when it's not the right time for kids to be there. So four-sided fences for backyard pools and making sure that fences all are in good condition with self-locking gates. Assigning somebody to be a water watcher, even if you're at a place where there's a lifeguard because the lifeguards are taking care of everybody in a facility or on a beach is staying outta harm's way and you and your family or friends might be the only one who sees your child at the moment that they're having a little bit of trouble. We want to be sure that families are thinking about fashion when it comes to water safety because yellow, pink, red bathing suits are more visible underwater. And so we want to encourage those bright colors that have a good contrast with the water so that if a child goes under, it's a little bit easier to find them. Families also need to be aware that a lot of kids get trouble during times when nobody would expect them to be swimming. Most frequent, most scenarios when we hear about toddlers who've gotten into a pool and drowned unexpectedly. So the family's been at the pool all day and everybody's packing up and the kids sneaks away and thinks it's still time to swim. And then we can also have situations where kids have gotten used to using water wings or puddle jumpers or those kinds of things, and don't know that they can't swim independently yet. So we want families to really be highly attentive. Watching those devices that they're using and making sure that that's not something that their child is only in the water using, because then they might not know how to respond if they get into the water without that. But then when we're thinking about the lakefront and life jackets being out on boats, paddleboards, kayaks, we wanna be sure that everybody's using a life jacket, even good swimmers, because on the lake you can get into trouble with waves or currents or other things that can shift in a second. The weather conditions in Chicago can go from beautiful and sunny to really windy and wavy in a matter of moments. And so having those life jackets can be really helpful and particularly important for teens and adults to be thinking about that because they often go in with a lot of confidence that they're not gonna get into trouble and might not have the conditions that they were expecting. 

[00:16:09] Dr. Nina Alfieri: Your research looked at disparities in access to swimming lessons for children. Can you tell us about your work in this and what should families know about the importance of early swim education and how to find resources for it? 

[00:16:21] Dr. Michelle Macy: Yeah, there is a long history of families being excluded from swim lessons because of economic reasons or because of different policies around segregation. One of the areas that I've looked into in my own research is trying to understand how those patterns that occurred a generation ago or two generations ago, still play out in kids having access to swim lessons today. And so wanting to encourage families to keep their eyes out for opportunities through all sorts of different resources for swim lessons. And some of the swim schools like Goldfish will offer some free swim lessons, particularly at the start of the summer in May and June. But then YMCAs and YWCAs and other programs throughout the city can offer up opportunities for kids and families to get in the water and start to learn some of those safety things. Illinois has passed some legislation to bring water safety education into the schools, and there are things that you can learn about being safe around the water, even if you don't know how to swim. So I think that those are all ways that we can be thinking about trying to address some of those barriers to swim lessons and barriers to being safe around the water. 

One of the other things that I wanted to just mention is that kids who have neurologic differences and autism spectrum disorder can be at a significant risk of drowning and prone to wandering and prone to seeking out water because it's an interesting, fun thing. And so if families have kids who have autism spectrum disorder, they might need to find a unique swim program that's really suited to the needs of kids with sensory differences. And there are programs available in different areas that will have quieter swim lesson environments or instructors who are skilled in working with kids who have those differences. 

[00:18:20] Dr. Nina Alfieri: Thanks really great to know and I know it could really benefit a lot of the patients that I care for thanks for bringing that up. So you followed me from home, to the bike, to the park to the pool. And now we're hopping in our car and we're gonna go visit grandma. Many families of course take road trips during the summer and travel during this time of year. So keeping kids safe in cars is another area that's really important to you. What do you want parents to know before going into a car for a short or a long road trip? 

[00:18:48] Dr. Michelle Macy: Yeah. You found all of my most important topics and car injuries and car crashes remain a leading cause of death, particularly for the younger kids who still benefit from car seats and booster seats. And so I think if you made me pick one thing. It would be buckle up every time, every trip, and then really work on finding the right seat for your kids' size and using that seat as long as possible, as long as they stay under the height or weight limits for that seat. So it's gonna be safest to keep kids rear facing until they get too tall or too heavy for that seat. And then go into a forward facing seat with a five-point harness as possible. It's just tremendous that I talk to people now who have their kids in kindergarten and first grade that are still using five point harnesses, and when I was on my trauma rotation as a fellow, my daughter was still a rear facing 15 month old, and I was like, when can I turn her around? And the trauma surgeon was like, you know what, Michelle, if I had my way, I'd be rear facing in a five point harness because it's so much safer. We've got NASCAR coming up in a couple weeks and those drivers are in five, six point harnesses because they're safer, so don't be too quick to jump to a booster seat. I fully appreciate that they're a little bit easier to use and have gotten three kids through to almost all three of them are drivers now. And, just using that five point harness as long as possible is gonna be great. And then using a booster seat until an adult seatbelt fits properly. And that is really something that we don't expect to happen consistently until kids are kind of getting out of elementary school and starting sixth grade. The point that somebody is around 11 is probably the point at which they're really gonna fit properly in an adult seatbelt, even though the law says that they can go earlier than that. 

[00:20:40] Dr. Nina Alfieri: That's good to know. And I think the mentality of this being a non-negotiables, is important to set early on. I know one of my clinic colleagues who now has grown children told her kids that the car actually doesn't work unless you're in your car seat. So when her kids were young, they would not get in the car seat and the car wouldn't move, and they got in their car seat and they could drive. So, a great motivator. 

[00:20:59] Dr. Michelle Macy: Absolutely. One of the other things I get a lot of questions about is when can my kids sit in the front seat. The recommendation is to wait until they're 13 and people are like, oh my gosh, that's so long. But it's really important to understand that until kids get to adolescents and go through the muscle and bone changes that go with puberty, they're really gonna be safest in that backseat. And if you're in a situation where that's the only seat available, making sure that they're wearing their seatbelt, doing it properly, and then pull that seat back as far away from the airbag as possible so that they don't have an injury from an airbag or coming into contact with the dashboard, if you have an airbag that turns off for someone who's too light to have the airbag activate. 

[00:21:45] Dr. Nina Alfieri: Another question I get often in the clinic is, what seat In the back seat should you install your car seat in? Do you have any thoughts on that? 

[00:21:51] Dr. Michelle Macy: Yeah, it ends up being a really challenging question. It's an easy question if you have one kid, and the middle seat is gonna be the seat that's farthest away from either side. And so if you're in a crash that hits one side or the other, they'd be safest from both of those possibilities. And then I think it really comes down to what's the position in the vehicle that you can get that seat in consistently, securely, and use it correctly every time. And if climbing into the middle seat makes it tough for you to get your child in and snug, then move it to one of the seats that is more convenient and more accessible so that you can be using that seat correctly every time. 

[00:22:30] Dr. Nina Alfieri: The one other thing that families might have happening a little bit more over the summertime is carpools and traveling with other families that they're not in control of the situation. And I think that can be an important discussion to have ahead of any carpooling plans, is how are all the kids gonna be able to be in a position where they've got at least a seatbelt on, and if you've got the ability to hand off a booster seat, even if that isn't your child's everyday seat, it'll help them have better seatbelt position. And sometimes I'll get a little bit of pushback from my own parents. They're like, oh my gosh, you want your kids in bubble wrap all the time. And it's not that. I want them to have wonderful full lives, and I know working in the emergency department that those injuries can happen in a snap and that we've got these effective ways to prevent them. AndSo I'm gonna do everything I can to make sure that kids are gonna be as safe as possible, and that families know what they can do to keep their kids as safe as possible. 

That's great. And I have one more commonly asked question. When you walk into a store, it's nauseating how many car seats there are. For every stage of it, there are hundreds of options. Tell me what you advise families when they're asking which car seat to buy, and in general, if you're walking into any store, are they all safe? Are they all good? 

[00:23:47] Dr. Michelle Macy: Yeah, if you're walking into a store, you are gonna be in a position where the seats on the shelves have all been through crash testing and have received the same level of certification by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration standards. So I think that's really, a baseline expectation that all those seats have passed the same crash standards. And then I think it becomes a matter of what's the right price point for your family. Recognizing that the $500 seat is gonna have a lot of the same safety benefits as a $75 seat. And then figuring out if that seat fits in your vehicle, and a lot of stores will let people take a sample out and see if they can get a good fit in their vehicle before they make a purchase. So,check with the store team and see if they'd be willing to let you do that. And then the last thing is if you know that you've got a kid who is gonna be on the taller or heavier end of the spectrum look for the size limits for that seat. And pick one that's going to last you as long as possible is really going to be an important goal. One other thing in that line is I wanna call attention to everybody about purchasing online. There are counterfeit seats out there that are not passing those safety standards. So if you get a seat online and it doesn't have English language, if it has misspellings, if it doesn't have weight and height limits for the different positions, If it doesn't have any stickers, those are all clues that this is a seat that hasn't passed those same standards and might not uphold in a crash and give it the protection that we want, and we know that with the way the tariffs, and the economy are going right now, that car seat prices are gonna up. So people might look more to used seats. There are concerns around used seats when you don't know if that seat's ever been in a crash, because seats are only designed to go through a crash once. So if you're going to be using a used seat, try to stick close to your family. Try to stick to people that you know would be able to tell you, I know for sure this has never been in a crash. And then also check for the expiration date. And I'm always like, what are you talking about with expiration dates? And my husband's a mechanical engineer and he's like, well, you know, Michelle, what happens with these seats is the plastic is in the heat and the cold and the sun exposure, and all of those things break down the materials so that they wouldn't be able to be as strong in a crash over time. The manufacturers have done a lot to make those expiration dates longer than they used to be, but I do want to call attention to the fact that seats will have expiration date either on a sticker or printed into the plastic usually on the underside. 

[00:26:29] Dr. Nina Alfieri: That is so good to know and the myriad of all of the things that parents can buy, car seats are definitely one of the most important things to be intentional about. So to wrap up, in the heat of the moment, it's not always easy to know where to go. Pediatrician's office, urgent care, ER What types of summer injuries fall into which category and who should parents rely on? 

[00:26:49] Dr. Michelle Macy: Well, as you know, I'm a huge fan of our primary care pediatrician partners, and so I want to be sure that families know that their pediatrician's office is there for them to help navigate some of these questions, and so that is always the spot that I want families to think about for our first call. And I also wanna note that there are a number of things where families know that they just need to get to the ER. And with injuries, if there's anything that looks out of position, really swollen in an arm or a leg after an injury. Come on in. We might need to do x-rays. We might need to set a bone. That's something that is great to come into an emergency department, and particularly if you're in an area where you can get into an emergency department that specializes in pediatrics, you're gonna get the most efficient care and people are gonna really pay attention to reducing radiation exposure. They're gonna avoid head CTS that aren't necessary. So really trying to find pediatric experts in that space. If somebody has had a little bit of a bunk on the playground and they cried right away, but they seem a little bit tired afterwards, that might be something you check in with an urgent care about or check in with your pediatrician. But if kids hit their head and they've passed out or blacked out or are vomiting repeatedly or acting confused, that's a come to the ER kind of situation. 

[00:28:13] Dr. Nina Alfieri: So finally, summer is a time of adventure and freedom. I'm gonna pivot a little bit and I'm curious, what's one thing you and your family are really looking forward to in summertime? 

[00:28:22] Dr. Michelle Macy: I'm super excited about time at the beach and I've got lifeguards and kids who are playing water polo this summer, so being able to be by the water and enjoy time with them and see them doing their thing, keeping people safe is what I'm most looking forward to. 

[00:28:38] Dr. Nina Alfieri: Well, thank you so much Dr. Macy, for taking the time to walk us through summer safety. You gave us a lot of really practical and helpful tips that are rooted in research and evidence and so we really appreciate you being here today. 

[00:28:49] Dr. Michelle Macy: Thank you so much. 

[00:28:51] Dr. Rob Sanchez: Thanks for listening to Kids' Wellness Matters. 

[00:28:56] Dr. Nina Alfieri: For more information on this episode and all things kids wellness, please visit luriechildrens.org.