Bike Safety Tips from Dr. Fiamengo

Dr. Alida Fiamengo, DO, discusses youth mountain bike and eBike safety. Always wear a properly fitted, safety-approved helmet. Children under 12 shouldn’t ride bikes over 10 miles per hour, as recommended by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Follow road rules, ride on the right, and avoid distractions.

Hi, I’m Dr. Alida Fiamengo, pediatrician at Tahoe Forest Health System. I’m here to talk to you today about summertime safety tips.

We love when our kids are out riding their mountain bikes, and now we have e-bikes, which are really popular these days. We want to make sure these kids are staying safe on their bikes and their e-bikes, and I’m going to tell you how to do that.

Make sure to wear a helmet. Have your kids wear a helmet that’s well-fitting and safety-approved. For kids that are less than 12, they should not be riding bikes that go over the speed limit of 10 mph. That’s for their own safety and recommended by the Consumer Product and Safety Division as well.

We want to make sure they follow the rules of the road, ride on the right side of the street whenever possible, and overall aren’t distracted. So make sure to keep your cell phones away and the earbuds out, and limit the passengers that they take with them. I’d rather see them around town or in my office than in the ER.

We hope you have fun out there. Thanks for listening.

Youth Summer Safety Tips

In this episode, Dr. Alida Fiamengo, DO, shares summer safety tips for youth. She discusses sun protection and recommends UPF 50 sunscreen and loose clothing for children six months and up. If a child looks flushed, move them to shade and hydrate. For the woods, she recommends using bug spray with less than 15% DEET and covering up with long clothes.

Hi, I’m Dr. Alida Fiamengo, pediatrician at Tahoe Forest Health System. I’m here to talk to you today about summertime safety tips.

In the summertime we love being out in the sun. It has positive effects: Vitamin D for bone health, mood-boosting chemicals that send our happy signals off. But what we want to be careful of is too much exposure can be dangerous to our health. One of the things we can do to stay safe is wear a sunscreen. There are plenty of healthy products out there, mineral sunscreen, wearing loose-fitting clothing. UPF of 50 is a good option. We start sunscreen at 6 months of age.

Heat exhaustion can look like confusion, dizziness. Sometimes your kids may or may not be sweating, and so if they look flushed, they look a little out of it, make sure to take a break, get some water, get those electrolytes, and get them lying down if need be so that they can have more fun doing the things that they love.

Bug spray is important when you’re out in the woods, so make sure to use DEET less than 15% if you can, and cover that skin up with those long clothes.

We hope you have fun out there. Thanks for listening.