Life & Safety with Jimmy Rios
Welcome to Life & Safety with Jimmy Rios! Get ready to dive into a world where safety meets storytelling! Drawing from his rich background as a former firefighter, EMT and safety expert, Jimmy brings you straight into the heart of safety and emergency preparedness. Episodes feature easy-to-understand tips, real-life stories, and interviews with experts, all designed to help you protect yourself, your business, and those you care about.
Whether it's advice on navigating everyday safety challenges or insights into the latest in health and safety trends, let this podcast educate and entertain you. Join Jimmy and level-up your safety knowledge with engaging discussions that could one day save a life.
Life & Safety with Jimmy Rios
I Know What You Did Last Summer… You Got Burned!
You know that one friend who insists they “don’t burn”, then spends the whole beach day turning into a lobster? Yeah… don’t be that friend.
In this episode, we’re talking all things too much sun and not enough water. Jimmy and Megan sharing stories, smart tips, and a few bad decisions from their own half-baked adventures. You’ll hear how to treat a sunburn (please skip the butter), what dehydration actually feels like, and how to cool someone down fast if they’re headed toward heat stroke.
Also on the menu: dreams of swimming with sharks, watch-tan regrets, and something called the taco method (yes, it’s a real thing for cooling people down... yes, we're hungry now too).
So whether you’re beach-bound, hiking in the heat, or laying out in the backyard like a teenager, this one’s full of easy tips to keep you and your favorite friends safe this summer.
Life Safety Associates specializes in emergency response training for corporate ERT Teams. We help businesses create competent and confident first responders who are ready to handle unexpected emergencies. For more information you find us @lifesafetyassoc or email@lifesafety.com.
What's happening? This is our Life and Safety Podcast with Jimmy and your girl, megs, hello. And today we're going to talk about just some summer emergencies, some heat issues, because July is UV Awareness Month.
Megan:That is true. I found that online.
Jimmy:And as a young woman, of course you know about uvs. As soon as you told me we're talking about that, I had that chamber for the joke. So what app do you use for looking at the uv index to tell me if you're gonna tan or not? I'm gonna be so honest, I don't oh my gosh, you're so not the typical oh, it's bad.
Megan:I have no idea. I like I couldn't tell you any of it so you just can't know what uvs are, but I don't tan.
Jimmy:Look at me, I am pasty white well, I didn't want to say that I can't get away. You don't get darker than that no, I just burn.
Megan:Actually, that's not true. Have you seen my watch tan?
Jimmy:I'm just looking at that.
Megan:You have a watch tan it's so bad, um, but that's not on purpose, that's just like because I never take my. Oh yeah, your farmer's tan is not fantastic no, it's not the business yeah, no, I um, I just I put sunscreen on and then hope for the best. But yeah, my like my um tanned really well and my mom does not tan really well and we all kind of hoped that I would take after my dad. I don't.
Jimmy:No In that sense. No, no, jenny tans well, I tan well, the boy tans well. Our girl has to work on it.
Megan:Yeah, and isn't that so annoying?
Jimmy:Well, not for me. I tan well. But she definitely checks the UV indexes and goes and tans, yeah.
Megan:I couldn't even tell you what would be a good UVv index for tanning yeah, me either.
Jimmy:I have no idea I didn't.
Megan:I I'm gonna be honest, I didn't even realize that was a thing that people did oh really I mean I knew that, like people check the uv index, but I thought it was for like, oh, should I go outside today or not? Like is it gonna be? I don't know, I didn't really pay attention to it.
Jimmy:That's more of an air index thing, I think. Think too.
Megan:Yeah, yeah, yeah, that one I know, that one yeah, but UV index, I never even considered it for tanning, tanning. Yeah, I'm like hey, it's not actively raining. I'll go outside today and go to the beach. What fun in the ocean.
Jimmy:Nice, yeah, yeah. And you, nice, yeah, yeah. And you are definitely an ocean swimmer, aren't you?
Megan:yeah, I am good moist, so I'm impressed that I haven't been, like, attacked by some sort of sea creature.
Jimmy:Yeah, oh, would it change yourself?
Megan:yeah, that's true. I um, I like to swim at uh, like I think it's called, I don't, I don't know. They changed the name. It used to be cow's beach, but on the other side of the wharf, from the boardwalk in Santa Cruz, I swam there all the time and I used to like almost always when I would swim there there would be like seals that would come up, not necessarily right up to me, but swim near me with me. That was fun.
Megan:Nice I haven't been attacked by one, yet about one yet that's a good thing. Yeah.
Jimmy:I try. It's definitely a good thing. Did you see the largest great white shark ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean yesterday on the news, no, I didn't. Yeah, it was like 14 feet long and like 1,600 pounds or something like that estimated Nice, I was like holy shit.
Megan:I really want to go swimming with sharks. I know it's like a stupid choice, but I do really want to go swimming with sharks.
Jimmy:I know it's like a stupid choice, but I do really want to. I don't know.
Megan:I swam with dolphins in Hawaii.
Jimmy:Definitely have swam with dolphins before. Yeah, fun fact, I'm too big. They can't push me Like they do those other things Nice.
Megan:No, but like you know that thing where they'll like put you in like a cage, yeah, and you swim with like that, or there's like a zoo and like I feel like it's probably florida, because of course it's florida um, they'll put like in a cage with the alligator and the alligator tank.
Megan:that sounds so fun to me yeah, no yeah, I even would actually be willing to go swimming with sharks, like not caged if it's like if I go with somebody who knows what they're doing, but sharks, I mean, they don't want to attack you, they don't taste good. That's what I've heard.
Jimmy:I don't know.
Megan:But, like, if you'll notice when like people get bit, they typically don't come back for seconds. They're like they spit you out, they're like bleh.
Jimmy:Right.
Megan:Human. I was looking for seal.
Jimmy:Yeah, I got surfboard Gross. I don't know. I have a lot of fat content. They might completely, you know. Well, that's good, tell me you know about me and Sills. That'd be hard, I don't know. There's something about being part of the food chain that I'm not down with. Fair, you know. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy going into the ocean, yeah.
Megan:I'm definitely in the friend group. I'm the one who's like we'll do a beach day, woo. And then I spend no time with my friends because I'm in the ocean Awesome.
Megan:I have one or two friends in each sort of friend group that goes to the beach consistently who will sometimes join me out in the waves. It's fun trying to guess. Do I jump over the wave or do I have to dive under it? Is it going to break too soon? Will it kill me if I try to jump? I've only gotten stuck in the undertow once and I survived.
Jimmy:Nice, nice.
Megan:I was small, it was bad.
Jimmy:Well, you said you put sunscreen on.
Megan:Yes, oh bad, you beat me. Well, you said you put sunscreen on. Yes, oh, back to UV.
Jimmy:You know. So what's your go-to sunburn treatment?
Megan:Aloe vera.
Jimmy:Yeah, aloe vera, for sure. What about like anything else? Have you heard of any like weird sunburn?
Megan:I mean, I've had people tell me to like put butter on it. Yeah, which, no, no, I'm already toasty, I don't need to feel like a marshmallow yeah, no um, aloe is definitely the best.
Jimmy:I think it works the best.
Megan:It's most efficient yeah, I like to get the the dye free one. I don't know if it actually makes a difference, but I in my mind, when I went went to Mexico, I literally brought a tube of aloe vera with me, cuz I'm like I know I'm gonna get burned here nice.
Jimmy:Wh en the kids were little they liked the after sun cream and then I was like, why do you like this so much? And they had like lidocaine in it. Oh, so like it made him feel good like the sunburn, like it cooled it off, but then like it numbed it.
Megan:Oh, that's nice.
Jimmy:And then Jenny had found this banana boat and so Ella also had Laticate in it. So the kids were like always like just slathering it on their arms. They're like man, they really like this like stuff. You know it's really good skin hygiene. Look at this like stuff, you know it's really good skin hygiene. What's going on? Yeah, and then I read the ingredients and there was like I was laticated. It makes me feel better. Like it numbs things like. And what are the little guys like it? You know it's so funny. Yeah, oh my gosh, they were like we only like that stuff, you know so, um, I remember team. You know sunburn is a first degree burn. So, like you teach you treat anything else and instead of wrapping it, you know you just wear loose dressings yeah, nothing super tight.
Megan:And one point that I like to point out is that, um, you know, as soon as you get some any type of burn whether it be a heat, chemical, sun, whatever it is type of burn on your body then that messes with your body's ability to temperature regulate. Yeah, um, so make sure you're taking care of yourself. Like yes, it feels good to be cool, but don't try to cool yourself off too much or too fast. Like don't sleep directly under an air conditioning, because your body can't self-regulate your temperature well. If it has any type of burn on it, it's gonna mess with it yeah, no, no, oh, we should actually fact check this myth right now okay, I'm on it.
Megan:What are we fact checking?
Jimmy:hot tubs are good for sunburns. I think hot tubs are healthy with sunburns, you know, as far as getting one, but not like treating the sunburn yeah it.
Megan:Um the the california skin institute recommends against hot tubs. Um, the ai overview is saying hot water can further irritate or worsen the sunburn increased redness and swelling, pain and discomfort, dehydration of the skin, increased risk of blistering. And I would argue also because a burn messes with your skin barrier, that you also have an increased risk of infection and stuff, because the germs in a hot tub Sure. And that one is just fully from my brain though, so someone else fact check that, or?
Megan:I'll fact check myself, I'll look Um, but yeah, and it says uh, cool baths and showers um are recommended, uh, to help reduce inflammation and also, speaking from experience, Showers are recommended to help reduce inflammation and also speaking from experience, like I said, I burn quite easily.
Jimmy:Cool showers feel better than hot showers just because yeah, you're cooling, you're stopping the burning process, you're cooling things off. So that makes sense. That makes sense. Yeah, I had a friend growing up who swore by the sunburns getting into taking a hot shower and or getting into a hot tub. Yeah, and I was like no, no, now.
Megan:A Mayo Clinic recommends a cool bath.
Jimmy:There you go.
Megan:Oh, it also recommends a cool bath with two ounces go. Ooh, it also recommends a cool bath with two ounces of baking soda in the tub. Interesting, I don't know.
Jimmy:What's the baking soda do?
Megan:It doesn't seem to say exactly what it does. I'm looking, I'm looking. No, it doesn't give a reason for it. It just says or take a cool bath, add about two ounces of baking soda to the tub, cool the skin for about 10 minutes several times a day. Maybe it helps with cooling it, I don't know, Somebody try it and let us know.
Jimmy:Yeah, Leave it in the comments. So remember sunburns and days in the sun we're not drinking enough water Definitely leads to other issues.
Megan:Dehydration is a big one.
Jimmy:Dehydration is a big one, for sure, for sure. How do you know you're dehydrated? What are some signs and symptoms? Let's go over. Yeah, that's a good one.
Megan:Oh, that's a good one. That is a good question, I should know these. I have them all the time. I'm always dehydrated.
Jimmy:Cramps.
Megan:Cramps good, yes, muscle cramps, headaches.
Jimmy:Yeah, extreme dehyd. Yeah, extreme dehydration. You know you're not sweating, you know like that goes, starts going into heat exhaustion and things like that of course. But um, a big good one is you know the color of your urine the darker it gets, usually the bad it is and the frequency of urination. If you're like you're all day at the beach and you're like, huh, you know I didn't peep today, that might be a problem. I would argue't peep today. That might be a problem.
Megan:I would argue, is a problem for sure.
Jimmy:Yeah, might be a problem. For sure you should try to. You know, drink some more water. You know electrolytes, things like that. Um, so, to remember the heat, the dehydration it's, you're going to lead down that dark path of heat.
Megan:you know emergencies we kind of talked about cramps already and I like to think of heat cramps as the warning system of your body saying hey, I don't like this. Change what you're doing.
Jimmy:Sure Sure, and if you don't, listen to your body.
Megan:The next step, which I always forget heat exhaustion.
Jimmy:Heat exhaustion, right, when a person starts shutting down, they go to sleep. They look exhausted, right, um, they might have red, blotchy skin. They're going to sweat a lot, cause the body's like, hey, let's fix this, we're too hot, so extreme sweating. From almost no sweating to extreme sweating, and then they're going to go, or from they are sweating, um, because realistically, if they're not sweating they're already in heat stroke. Yeah, right, so they're sweating, extreme sweating, like they're in the shower. The bodies, you know, they freak out they say they like.
Megan:If you um touch them, they'll feel hot to the touch usually hot to the touch, you know.
Jimmy:And then there's degrees to this, and then they start getting low levels of consciousness. They're not being able to stay awake. They're not really talking to you very well, they're not coherent. You get that bad headache, then they start getting nauseous.
Megan:Did you say that?
Jimmy:No, I did not say that that's a good one, good one. Nausea, you know, they actually might even throw up, which is bad. Because you know, especially if you give cold water, yeah, don't give cold water, even though it feels good you can put cold water on the person, but don't put cold water, don't give them cold water.
Megan:Yeah, especially if they're nauseous because you don't want them. The more they throw up, the less liquid inside of them.
Jimmy:Yeah, so absorption, dunk water, water. It's a good one, like the bowel clinic.
Megan:Talked about the um bath now if you don't have a bath, the hose is good hose works great bottles of water yeah, cool people off.
Jimmy:You don't get some of the clothing off. Let them evaporate. Evaporation is a way of cooling, obviously within reason. Yeah, within reason.
Megan:You don't want to cool them off too fast, because then they start shivering, which is the body's way of heating itself up. Then it's a whole other issue.
Jimmy:Yeah, but also the body will start to shiver if they're too hot too, because it's trying to work the energy off too, true? So don't you know, depending on where you're at in the stages of heat emergencies, shivering is a good thing if you will and remember, I mean, and it could be as simple as putting the person in the car where the air conditioning is cranked up. Yeah, and some water. That might make them feel better. That's good.
Megan:And you know, water with electrolyte is always going to be better than just plain water. So we're talking, you know, gatorade, pedialyte, things like that. If you have it available, great. If you don't, I'm going to say it's a teaspoon of salt per quart of water.
Jimmy:Something like that.
Megan:Yeah, which is to help, because your body absorbs electrolyte water better than just plain water.
Jimmy:Avoid caffeine, because that's a dehydrant. Yeah, just remember, you know you don't want to give too much salt water, right? Because then the body can't absorb it, right? It's all weird, right? So you got to be careful with that. I like to do a 50-50 mix of Gatorade and water, if you can, you know, or a diluted Gatorade and water, If you can, you know, or a diluted Gatorade.
Jimmy:Yeah, better. Now you have to kind of figure out Between their consciousness and how with it they are, or if they are Half stop sweating To call 911, alright. So it's up to you and the situation. If the person gets in a car and they have air conditioning and they go inside of a building and they have good air conditioning and it's cranking and they feel better with some water, small sips of water, and they're like, oh, I feel better, cool. But if you're not getting any response, you may want to escalate and call 911.
Megan:Yeah, and once they're at the point of like vomiting and things like that, it's pretty hard um, not necessarily hard to reverse, but at that point I personally would be calling 9-1-1 sure, sure and it's always better safe than sorry to call 9-1-1 yeah, so let's talk about how we would.
Jimmy:You know ice packs would work. So where do we put ice packs? Cold water bottles, things like that?
Megan:You want to put them at pulse points is a good way to remember it, because that's where the blood is closest to the skin level. So you're cooling down that blood as it's passing near the skin and then going deeper into their body and cooling their body from the inside. So, um, armpits along the groin, as high up as they can tolerate, and then actually the sides of the neck. I know it feels good to put it on the back of the neck, but it's going to be more effective on the side of the neck, like where the, the carotid arteries and such are.
Jimmy:Yeah, and then behind the knees.
Megan:Oh, that's a good one yeah.
Jimmy:It's never a bad idea, and just letting people it's never a bad idea. And it feels good to put like an ice pack on top of the person's head while the capillaries are there. Especially me, my hair is pretty thin on top, so it works pretty good. It feels good to put like an ice pack on top of the person's head while the cap letters are there. Yeah, you know, especially me, my hair is pretty thin on top, so it works pretty good. It feels pretty good. And so what do we do for, like an extreme situation?
Megan:Mm-hmm. You know Like once we're at the level of heat stroke.
Jimmy:Yeah, like they're going. 911's been called already. Mm stroke yeah, they're going. 9-1-1's been called already. You know they have a elevated internal temperature. We're not taking, you know, internal temperatures. No team. No, we're not, you know um but the the taco method the taco method nice I can never remember tarp assisted radioactive. Remember TARP-assisted radioactive Detroit? Wow, that's TARD. That is, we're talking about TACO. Tarp-assisted cooling by oscillation.
Megan:Okay, there we go. I can never remember.
Jimmy:TARP-assisted radioactive Detroit is not the appropriate word to use or do so. Taco, blanket, tarp, whatever it is. Pick people up, ice water on them and lift them up multiple people and shake the person in the tarp.
Megan:Like you're bringing the left side of the tarp up and then the right side and it's sort of rolling them in the ice water and it's cooling them down.
Jimmy:Yes, so when I said shake, I meant roll.
Megan:They're not a salt shaker, you don't want to say I would like to see that, but would be quite funny um, and in making sure that you're not like choking them in the process and having them face down in the water, especially if they're having trouble with consciousness, you don't want to suffocate them or drown them, because that's another issue, um, and don't like, if they're, if you're like at the lake, don't throw them in the lake if they're having consciousness issues, because they're so out of it, because that's drowning, that's, that's murder.
Jimmy:We try not to do that sure, sure, edge of the lake wouldn't be a bad idea. Yeah, yeah, you know, soak their legs, their feet, things like that.
Megan:Mm-hmm.
Jimmy:Shade, if you can. Mm-hmm, that's a good one Shade if you can. All right team Be safe out there this summer Peace.
