Thursday, April 13, 2006
Six "PLEAs" For Healthy Swimming
You Can Choose to Swim Healthy!
Healthy Swimming behaviors are needed to protect you and your kids from RWIs and will help stop germs from getting in the pool in the first place.
Here are six PLEAs that promote Healthy Swimming:
Three PLEAs for All Swimmers
Practice these three PLEAs to stop germs from causing illness at the pool:
Please don't swim when you have diarrhea. This is especially important for kids in diapers. You can spread germs in the water and make other people sick.
Please don't swallow the pool water. In fact, avoid getting water in your mouth.
Please practice good hygiene. Take a shower before swimming and wash your hands after using the toilet or changing diapers. Germs on your body end up in the water.
Three PLEAs for Parents of Young Kids
Follow these three PLEAs to keep germs out of the pool and your community:
Please take your kids on bathroom breaks or check diapers often. Waiting to hear I have to go may mean that it's too late.
Please change diapers in a bathroom and not at poolside. Germs can spread to surfaces and objects in and around the pool and spread illness.
Please wash your child thoroughly (especially the rear end) with soap and water before swimming. Everyone has invisible amounts of fecal matter on their bottoms that ends up in the pool.
