Safety

3 OUT OF 4 CHILD DROWNING CASES HAVE THIS IN COMMON

By Eric Lupton, President, Life Saver Pool Fence & Vice-President, National Drowning Prevention Alliance

Of all the many statistics that have been burned into my memory over the 20 years I have been passionate about drowning prevention, there is one that stands out above the rest. And for some reason, it is not the statistic you hear most often. It isn’t that drowning is the number one accidental killer of children under five or that in 69 percent of fatal drowning incidents one or both parents were responsible for supervision. Those are both jarring figures, and those are the statistics you most often see used as evidence that pool safety and multiple layers of protection are vitally important. But the statistic that most profoundly affects me is this:

In 77 percent of fatal drowning incidents, the child was last seen less than five minutes before being discovered in the pool.

Five. Minutes.

That is the statistic that gives me chills. Why? Because that statistic isn’t just a number; it paints the picture. That statistic, combined with other data we have, gives you a window into how quickly and easily this tragedy can occur to anyone.

Here is what I mean: In more than three out of four fatal drownings, the child was seen less than five minutes before the unthinkable happened. In most of those cases, the child was last seen in the house, nowhere near the pool. In many of those cases, the child was last seen asleep in the bedroom. So, here is the scenario: you check on your toddler who is fast asleep in his room. Safe and sound. You leave, get a cup of water, maybe clean a dish or two, then go back to check on him again just FOUR MINUTES later — barely any time has passed at all. Now, he’s not in his room. You look quickly around the house before running out to the backyard and the pool. And that is where you find him. But it is already too late.

The reason that is scary is because it can happen to anyone at any time. Even the best, most attentive parent in the world cannot prevent a scenario like that on her own! There is no substitute for parent supervision, but when you know that in the majority of cases, everything happened in less than five minutes, it is clear that supervision just isn’t enough.

This is why Life Saver Pool Fence invented the concept of layers of protection for pool safety more than 25 years ago. No matter how hard we try, there are going to be brief moments when we are not looking directly at our children. Someone knocks on the door, the phone rings, your older child runs inside with a bloody nose from a flying baseball — life happens. Implementing multiple layers of protection is the best way to make sure that these distractions don’t turn into tragedy.

Life Saver recommends the six layers of protection prescribed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission to supplement parent supervision. They are: 1. High locks on all doors and windows leading to the pool. 2. Alarms on the doors and windows that access the pool. 3. A pool safety fence isolating the pool from the home. This fence should be at least 4-foot tall with a self-closing, selflatching gate. 4. An alarm in the pool and personal immersion alarm on your child, like Safety Turtle. 5. Swimming lessons as early as you and your pediatrician feel comfortable. Infant swim instructors start training babies to roll over and float earlier than you might think. 6. CPR training for you and members of your family. Administering CPR while paramedics are on the way can literally mean the difference between life and death. The idea is to come as close to a fail-safe system as possible. You cannot drown-proof a child, but every layer of protection that you add significantly reduces the chance of a child drowning incident– the more, the better. Of those steps, pool safety fencing is arguably the most effective at preventing fatal drowning incidents; it is the only one that physically prevents access to the pool, making your pool safer for your children and your neighbors’.

Most child victims of accidental drownings had been seen just five-minutes prior. Layers of protection give you the most important thing in the world in this scenario: time. You wouldn’t own a car without seat belts. Don’t own a pool without protecting it.

PHOENIX IS IN A RECALL CRISIS: CPR AND FIRST AID TRAINING HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO BY DAISY MOUNTAIN FIRE DEPARTMENT There’s a crisis in Phoenix that nobody’s talking about. You encounter it every day, on every know where to service their car, or which centers have recall expertise. Sudden cardiac arrest can occur without warning, to anyone, at any time. It’s a leading cause of CPR TRAINING WHEN: Thu May 18, 2017 6-10pm WHERE: Daisy Mountain Fire Departmorning commute. This is a mass public concern that’s death among adults in the U.S. First ment, 43814 N New River Road, New Consider this: 902,000 recalled cars are still on Phoeextremely dangerous—but there’s a way to help that takes less than a minute. Aid training helps prepare individuals to deliver initial emergency procedures until first responders arrive. These Community and Workplace River, AZ 85087 DESCRIPTION: Class format is partially lecture and partially practical (hands-on). Completion of the course requires students to demonstrate proficiennix’s roads. WHAT TO DO: classes utilize the American Safety and cy on mannequins while on the floor. 1. Visit www.motorsafety.org Health Institute (ASHI) curriculum REGISTER ONLINE: https://goo.gl/ Think about that. There are hundreds 2. Enter your car’s VIN and certified instructors. Satisfactory TFpqFP of thousands of potentially unsafe cars 3. Click “Check recall status” completion of the course entitles stuon the roads every day that have the 4. If your car is in recall, you will be dents to a certificate valid for two years FIRST AID TRAINING power to hurt you, your family, and directed to a certified dealer to fix the from date of completion. Registration WHEN: Thu May 25, 2017 6-10pm other drivers around you. And it’s all problem is required. Space is limited. The cost is WHERE: Daisy Mountain Fire Departbecause information about recalls is $25 per student, per class, due at the start ment, 43814 N New River Road, New decentralized, unorganized, and notoriously difficult to find. In many cases, people aren’t even MotorSafety.org is a nonprofit dedicated to making recall news centralized and accessible. With over more than 100 million vehicles in America of class, payable with exact change or check made payable to Daisy Mountain Fire Department. Please contact Paul Schickel at 623-695River, AZ 85087 DESCRIPTION: First Aid for the Community and Workplace, utilizing the American Safety and Health Institute curriculum and certified instructors. aware that their car is in recall. If affected by recalls, the need is more 1424 or Paul.Schickel@DMFD.org to Class format is partially lecture and they do find out about an open recall, pressing than ever to end America’s register, or if you’d like to schedule partially practical (hands-on). they’re often stuck waiting months recall crisis and make our roads safer. these classes for your group of eight or REGISTER ONLINE: https://goo.gl/ for a part. Worse, they might not even more. rJXfQG