by Sarah Thomack
St. Joseph Post
Anyone looking to get out and enjoy summer activities can download an app on their phone with tips and information for staying safe.
Angie Springs with the Northwest Missouri Chapter of the Red Cross says they offer several apps covering heat safety, severe weather preparedness and water safety.
“The swim app will also provide you with safety tips on how you can prepare your family to focus on the risk of drowning and to minimize those risks, especially for those young children in your family,” Springs says.
The Red Cross also offers a free online water safety course for parents and caregivers.
Springs says another one of the Red Cross apps is an emergency app which can act like a weather radio no matter where you are.
“If you’re sitting at home or you’re traveling somewhere, maybe you’re camping on vacation, it’s going to know where you’re at and watches and warnings, as we know, are issued by county and sometimes when we travel we have no idea what county we’re in,” Springs says. “So this will go off just like your alarms would go off at home, if you hear those sirens that the county initiates, this phone will go off just like that to let you know if a watch or a warning has been issued where you are physically at with your phone.”
Springs says as people look to get out and about this summer, to not only keep summer safety in mind but to also continue with COVID-19 safety measures.
The Red Cross encourages anyone heading out to a public swimming pool or beach this summer to maintain social distancing in and out of the water and to not share any personal items such as goggles, nose clips or snorkels.
For more information about summer safety and Red Cross apps, click here.