Water fight / Education campaign focuses on pool safety for kids
By Susan Jurgelski
Updated Feb 04, 2008 06:00
Trapped behind the ladder in the deep end of the pool at Lancaster County Park, they discovered a 2-year-old boy.
“The lifeguards pull the patrons out every three hours to do a routine scan for objects, so this was at a time when they weren’t looking for potential problems with people,” says Tammy Agesen, recreation coordinator at Lancaster County Department of Parks and Recreation.
Lifeguards rescued the youngster, and although he had inhaled some water, he was otherwise unharmed. Apparently, he had wandered away from his father, tripped and fallen in the water.
“The boy’s father was in tears,” Agesen says. “He said, ‘He was away from me for only a second.’ ”
When it comes to water safety and children, seconds count, says Courtney Barry, Lancaster County Safe Kids Coalition coordinator.
Backyard pool safety is the focus of Safe Kids Week, which continues through Sunday, and the coalition is distributing 500 water-safety packets throughout the county. Safe Kids also sponsored a backyard-pool safety art contest for students.
“Water is unpredictable,” Barry says. “Things can change in an instant.”
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Water and kids can be a dangerous mix.
Worldwide, drowning is the second leading cause of injury-related death for children ages 14 and under.
While drain entrapment is a relatively unknown hazard, from 1985 to 2004, at least 33 children ages 14 and under died as a result of getting caught in a pool or spa drain.
According to the Washington, D.C.,-based Consumer Product Safety Commission, 80 percent of drowning and near-drowning incidents occur at home.
Last year in Lancaster County, three children drowned at or near their homes.
A 2-year-old girl was found dead in a small above-ground pool behind her family’s greenhouse in West Earl Township. The pool was about 3-feet deep, and a doll was floating in it, which led investigators to believe she may have been trying to retrieve it.
A 4-year-old boy drowned in a bathtub in Denver, and a 16-month-old girl drowned in a 5-gallon farm-water bucket that held only 3 inches of water.
***
Safe Kids is reaching out to backyard pool owners, but the goal is to promote education on child water safety anywhere and everywhere.
“Parents need to actively watch their children near water,” Barry says. “The problem comes in when parents are doing gardening or something else.”
The sounds of drowning are deceptive, Barry says.
“Drowning can sound like playing,” she says.
At community pools, where there are a large number of swimmers, many of whom are children, lifeguards are sometimes forced to become baby sitters.
“We struggle with getting parents to watch their children closely,” Agesen says. “We tell them that if the child is an arm’s length away, that’s too far away.”
At the Lancaster Family YMCA, 572 N. Queen St., all children under the age of 8 must be in the pool with a parent, says aquatic director Carol Spencer Morris.
“Lifeguards are not baby sitters,” she says. “They are there to prevent accidents, observe risky behavior, and if an accident does occur, to act.”
At the Y, guards regularly do a sweep to make sure parents remain with their young children.
“If the parent is on the deck reading, the (guards) tell them they’ve got to be with their child,” Morris says.
Last year, a Y investigation of near-drowning incidents showed they often involved young children who were upright, then unable to recover when they slid into a horizontal position.
“What the guards were seeing wasn’t what drowning normally looks like,” Morris says. “It wasn’t a struggle. These kids were slipping under the water.”
The Y requires children to take a 45- second swim test to assess their safety skills.
From May 22 to 26, the Y will offer a Splash swim lesson/water-safety skills program for children 6 to 12.
Lifeguards receive regular in-service training at both the YMCA and the Lancaster County Department of Parks and Recreation.
At the Lancaster County Park pool off Rockford Road, where some 1,000 people swim daily, lifeguards rotate every 15 minutes, Agesen says. At weekly in-service trainings, they explore every possible emergency scenario.
After the pool opens May 27, the parks and rec department will hold Wacky Wellness Wednesday safety education programs and offer incentives for parents watching their kids at the pool.
Both kids and parents can get complacent about the potential danger of water, Barry says.
“We can get comfortable around water,” Barry says. “That’s the challenge — keeping people aware of the importance of safety.”
KEEPING KIDS SAFE IN WATER
Always watch kids in and around water.
Teach kids how to swim, and teach them water-safety rules, too.
Use fences and other barriers to keep kids away from pools and hot tubs when you’re not around.
Use anti-entrapment drain covers and a safety vacuum release system to prevent entrapment.
Tie up long hair when swimming.
— Source: Safe Kids Worldwide
FOR YOUR INFORMATION
WHAT: Splash swim lessons/water-safety skills program for kids 6 to 12
WHEN Half-hour sessions will be held at 4:30, 5, 7:30 and 8 p.m. Monday, May 22 to Friday, May 26.
WHERE: Lancaster Family YMCA, 572 N. Queen St., Lancaster
COST: $5
DETAILS: Call 397-7474.
OTHER SAFETY PROGRAMS: This summer, the Lancaster County Department of Parks and Recreation will sponsor Wacky Wellness Wednesdays, which will include information about pool safety.
MORE SAFETY INFORMATION: To learn more about kids and pool safety, call the Lancaster County Safe Kids Coalition, 544-3282, or go to www.usa.safekids.org.
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