Transcription:
Water Safety and Drowning Prevention

Scott Webb: You're listening to Children's Health Checkup. I'm Scott Webb. And on this episode we'll discuss water safety and drowning prevention with our expert Jesus Alderete, Injury Prevention Program Lead Coordinator and Lead for the Children's Health Know Before You Go Program. Thanks so much for joining me today Jesus. We know that drowning is the leading cause of injury related death for children ages one to four in the U S how can we as parents keep our kids safe around water and prevent drowning?

Jesus Alderete: Well, let's get started with a little bit of statistics. The CDC does emphasize that it is the leading cause for kids under the age of four, not only in the United States but other countries as well. Just last week we had a conference on water safety, the National Drowning Prevention Alliance and Australia, it's another country that has the same statistics as we do when it comes to drowning. So unfortunately it is our younger kids under the age of five they're not just drowning but unfortunately having an adverse reaction, you know, fatalities followed by kids under the age of two. So one of the things that we've done for many, many years now, we try to let parents know to implement layers of protection. This is one of the ways that parents can retain some of the information when they are in and around the water on how to keep their kids safe. One would be always actively supervise your kid. It's not just being present in the same area but actively watching over your kid specifically for those kids that are not so immersed or don't have the right equipment. That's one layer of protection. The other one could be placing your kids in swimming lessons, having your kids skills tested, being assessed for how good they do in and around the water. And if families have access to a backyard pool, implementing a non claimable self-locking gate that covers their perimeter of the pool. So when there's no adult supervision, kids do not have access to the pool area.

Host: Yeah, those are all great suggestions and I want to talk about swimming lessons and how early children can begin. And I was just thinking back to my kids, you know, one was really good around water and the other one wasn't. And I'm sure there's just no one size fits all. But in general, how early can children begin taking swim lessons?

Jesus Alderete: Every kid's different. It really varies on the comfort the kids develop in and around the water. It also depends on the place where families take the kids to get their swimming assessment or their first swimming lessons. Some can start as early as six months if there are some facilities that start younger, great. But absolutely one of the things that families are always encouraged is to take them to have swimming lessons as early as possible. So then they learn how to be safe in and around the water.

Host: So for families who are lucky enough to have pools at home what are some of the ways that parents can keep the pool safe year round? You mentioned one of them earlier. Let's go through that.

Jesus Alderete: You know, now more than ever we are staying in place. We are providing social distancing and for those families that you have mentioned that have access to backyard pools, are definitely extending their living quarters to the backyard pool as soon as the weather permits. So one of the things that parents can do is make sure that they lock windows and doors that lead to the pool, if they do not have a non claimable fence leading to the pool. Active supervision, making sure that your kids are in a visible area where you can always watch over them and it's not about allowing the kids to go to the pool. And as a parent staying indoors and watching or listening to what's happening, it's actively, physically being in the same space and actively watching over them, having the right equipment is the other one, the right equipment in and around the pool has a lot to do between a child having an adverse reaction during a submersion and being able to be saved properly. So a cell phone, a Shepherd's [inaudible] would be the other one. And absolutely a US Coast Guard approved life jacket that fits the child’s weight.

Host: I think I know the answer to this, but what should parents or bystanders do if they notice that a child is struggling in the water at a pool or Lake? I mean, the obvious thing would be to help them, but I'm assuming that there are right ways and wrong ways to reach out and to provide assistance. Right?

Jesus Alderete: One of the first things that we always tell parents is learn how to recognize a drowning victim. We have this myth in our head that we created over years watching TV, that a drowning is a very loud event where the victim is splashing and yelling for help and on the contrary, it's a silent event. You will not hear the victim yell out for help. You could see them, it could easily be mistaken by a child playing and splashing out on the water. So recognizing when somebody's is in trouble, in and around the water, it's definitely useful recognizing those telltales of a person struggling. The other one is recognizing where the safety equipment is in and around you. Shepard’s crook. If you don't know how to swim, we advise those, those parents or caregiver, as hard as it is to not jump in and go after the drowning victim. A drowning victim develops the strengths sufficiently to be able to pull somebody down because they're fighting for their life. So they're going to grab to anything. So we advise parents to have the right equipment. It could be a Shepard's Crook, it could be a pull noodle where they can just reach out. We call it reach throw, don't go.\ Meaning that you can reach and throw something to the drowning victim to pull them into safety rather than jumping in and risking your life as well.

Host: You know, I'm just thinking about, you know, movies and television and what you said there about just how drownings are usually portrayed in those sort of entertainment things. It does seem like it's always portrayed as a really loud event that everyone can tell that someone's drowning, but you're so right. It is a silent thing. And how do you know and how do you recognize the signs that really interesting, helpful information Jesus. Can we talk more about the approved equipment that parents should have around kids when they're swimming, whether it's at the Lake or the pool or wherever they might be.

Jesus Alderete: The best equipment that a child can wear. Even good swimmers are at risk of drowning. Let's be upfront with this. There has been many, many cases where even professional swimmers have been exposed to this risk. So you can only imagine those kids that are just getting started in the water. So the best equipment that a child could ever wear is a life jacket, but not just any life jacket. If you have ever been to any of those stores, especially around spring or summer, you're going to start noticing that a lot of these store fronts, they put the really nice creative live jackets at the very front for families to purchase. And this is because they have the kids' favorite character or something that's trending. The unfortunate thing is even as parents, when we feel that we're doing the right thing, we don't realize that we might be putting our kids in trouble based on the fact that we don't take the time to read all of the instructions. The only guaranteed life jackets that a child can wear is a US Coast Guard approved inside of the light jacket, it gives you a serial number and it's guaranteed to keep the user above water. It's a lot like a car seat car. Car seats are designed for kids Height and weight, life jackets are designed for specific weight. So when you see those kids jumping into the water and the life jacket pushes up against their head, pushing their head towards into the water. Two things, one, the child is not wearing the proper life jacket, it's probably too big. And then the other one, not all the buckles might be properly tight and secure around the body.

Host: Jesus, is there anything else that we need to tell parents about keeping their children safe around water?

Jesus Alderete: We starting a new water season, so one of the best things that we can tell parents is rules before the pool. This is not applicable just to families with backyard pools. This is in general water safety, rules before pools indicating that parents should set those rules prior to going out into the water and having fun. Rule number one, we tell the parents high five before you dive, making sure that your child is asking your permission before they enter the water. This is an indicator for parents to be aware that their kids will be inside the water, which then in turns requires an adult active supervision. We call it a water watcher. Somebody that's actively watching the kids and it's a pool party not being distracted during the party having conversation or on their phone. It literally means somebody that's actively watching the kids during an expected time.

It doesn't have to be the same person all the time. They can rotate amongst adults, but always making sure that there's an adult watching over the kids when they're in and around the water. And of course drowning, it's not a exclusive to backyard pools, open waters. There has been a lot of incidents where kids are drowning in their bathtubs. So for these parents, they have younger kids under the age of four. We advice them to get all the equipment necessary before you bathe your kid and always, always stay within an arms reach, the time that it takes for somebody to run to the door and answer, sign for a package or sending texts or a conversation. Well in our heads we think they're, I'm going to be away for a minute. It can easily turn to five, 10 minutes. Every kid's different. But parents should know it only takes an inch of water for those kids to drown, an inch of water is enough to cover the kid's mouth and nose and prevent them from breathing.

Host: That's Jesus Alderete with great information on how we can keep our kids safe near water this summer. And for more information, visit childrens.com/watersafety. And if you found this podcast helpful, please rate and review or share this episode and follow Children's Health on your social channels. This is Children's Health Checkup, a podcast from Children's Health. Thanks for listening.