Last year, a toddler named Michael followed his family pets through their dog door and onto their back porch.
Stunned, his parents and grandparents could not figure out how the young boy got outside on their riverfront property.
Fortunately, the family’s pool was fenced, and the barrier stopped him from reaching the pool.
“We didn’t realize how quickly that could happen,” his grandmother later recalled to me. “Living on top of the water, we realized that he must learn to swim.”
Michael’s story continues to unfold thanks to a barrier and speedy intervention, but it’s a cautionary tale about how quickly children – especially mobile ones – can evade our attention.
In a state with water everywhere, it’s essential that they be equipped to seek safety in the event they reach water before an adult reaches them.
Nationally, drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death for children between ages 1 and 4. The terms used by the media regarding submersions are confusing and misleading to most individuals. Prevention can be implemented with simple steps and education.
Drowning in the state of Florida is:
* The leading cause of unintentional death for children ages 1 to 4 years;
* The second leading cause of unintentional death for children 5 to 9 years;
* The fifth leading cause of unintentional death for ages 10 to 44;
* The sixth leading cause of unintentional death for ages 45 and up.
Volusia County’s drowning rate exceeds the per capita rate of Broward County and exceeds that of the state average. For every one drowning you hear of, dozens happen daily.
Drowning can occur in as little as two inches of water. It can happen in a bath tub, bucket, canal, cooler, fountain, hot tub, lake, ocean, pool, river, spa, stream, toilet, washer, kiddie pool, in or above ground pool. It is silent. There is no universal sign that indicates an individual is struggling in water. It can happen in a pool filled with people or while your child is in the pool next to you and you are talking to someone. Drowning does not have a season—nor does it discriminate by race, religion, gender or socioeconomic background.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines drowning as the process of experiencing respiratory impairment from submersion/immersion in liquid. Drowning outcomes are classified as 1. death, 2.morbidity (brain damage) and 2. no morbidity (no brain damage).
Anyone who has been rescued from a submersion/immersion will show signs of a drowning within the first four to six hours of the incident. Signs may include: lethargy, vomiting, coughing and irritability.
There’s more on the topic from WebMD, too. “You may have heard of the terms ‘dry drowning’ and ‘secondary drowning.’ Those aren’t actually medical terms. But they do point to rare complications that you should know about and that are more common in children,” the website reads.
Breathing is an automatic body function. If someone ends up in water and has a loss of consciousness, they will begin to breathe even while submerged.
Prolonged breath-holding, commonly used as a playful competition between older children, can result in loss of consciousness. This typically is when the breath-holding exceeds 20 seconds.
Beyond implementing barriers to water, swim lessons and aquatic safety practices— including active adult supervision— are the greatest way to ensure safety all year round and fun when the temperatures warm.
A child that has had proper swimming lessons can learn to swim and safely be submerged in the water as young as 6 months of age.
Alarms, barriers, education, supervision, swim lessons are all key to prevention. Barriers and alarms should be installed to prevent access to backyard pools and other types of water features. Barriers include baby fencing, self-latching gates, fences, screen enclosures. Above ground pools must have ladders removed or barriers to the ladders. Community pools are required to have self-latching gates.
Supervision is required for all children around the water by and adult that knows how to swim. Any time your children are around a body of water, designate a water watcher.
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Becky Puhl began teaching aquatic survival skills in 1998 to Volusia County children, including those with special needs. She is a certified Red Cross Water Safety Instructor, Infant Aquatics Certified, United States Swim School Infant/Toddler Certified, and has taught thousands of children. For more information visit: Swimwithbecky.com
