5 Essential Summer Safety Tips

It’s summer. As we enjoy the outdoors and adventurous activities, hospitals and urgent care facilities brace themselves for what they call “trauma season.” Emergency rooms usually see double the number of injuries and trauma they see in winter. The most common summer injuries include car accidents, severe sunburn, water-sports injuries, dehydration, heat exhaustion, and falls.

Many of these can easily be avoided. Try these tips to keep you and your family safe and healthy during the summer months:

To avoid dehydration, drink lots of water or drinks high in electrolytes and avoid too much alcohol and caffeine. Eat fruits and vegetables which contain a lot of water such as grapefruits, peaches, eggplants and spinach.

To avoid sunburn, use high SPF sunscreen. Stay in the shade during peak hours (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.). Cover your skin and wear a hat. Keep children in the shade as much as possible.

To avoid heat exhaustion and heatstroke, avoid physical activity during the hottest hours of the day. Get used to the hot weather by slowly increasing the time you spend outside.

To avoid water-related injuries, always bring a buddy when engaging in water sports. And follow the lifeguards’ instructions. Get used to the difference of temperature between outside and in the water. Don't drink alcoholic beverages prior to water activities.

To minimize the risks of car accidents, make sure all car maintenance is done before leaving home on vacation. Allow plenty of time to get to your destination and drive during off-peak hours. Stop every 100 miles or two hours and if possible, take turns driving.

If you find yourself needing care right away, check out or related post: Need Same-Day Care? Convenient Options Beyond Urgent Care or the ER.

Sometimes even the most careful traveler can’t avoid illness or injury. If you’re injured or sick, remember that our travel emergency partner, Assist America is here to help.
You can download the free Assist America Mobile App. With it, you can access your membership details, membership ID card and list of our services. And you can call 24/7 Operations Center with the tap of a button.

Download it now before you're in an urgent situation. You'll need your HAP-exclusive code - log in to your hap.org account and select Assist America from the Quick Links.

Content brought to you by our partners at Assist America.