As summer heats up here in the Las Vegas valley, we’d just like to send out a little reminder to our friends and neighbors to consider the safety and well-being of your children when it comes to summertime pool fun.
According to the Southern Nevada Health District, 2016 saw 9 fatal drownings of children aged 0-14 years old in Clark County. That’s the highest number since 2008, and we think it’s important to note that nearly three-quarters of those deaths occurred in a residential pool.
Sadly, these losses could have been prevented. Just imagine – in the time it takes to turn and take a sip from a cold drink (about 10 seconds) or to take a quick trip to the bathroom (four to six minutes), a child can begin to drown when left unattended in a backyard pool. Within a minute without air, brain damage can occur – and lives can be forever changed by an avoidable accident.
That’s why it’s important that parents and guardians of little swimmers are reminded that pool safety should be a top priority for summer fun. So if you have a pool at your home, or there is one at a home your child frequents, you can plan ahead with some basic pool safety training:
• Ensure there is constant adult supervision – with no texting or other seemingly insignificant distractions.
• Watch kids when they are in or around water, without being distracted. Keep young children within arm’s reach of an adult, and make sure older children swim with a partner every time.
• Make sure your children learn to swim, and also develop these five water survival skills:
o Step or jump into water over their heads and return to the surface;
o Float or tread water for one minute;
o Turn around in a full circle and find an exit;
o Swim 25 yards to exit the water; and
o Exit the water. If in a pool, be able to exit without using the ladder.
• Put up secure fences.
• Remove elevated objects, such as chairs, tables and blow up toys from the pool area. This can play an important role in prohibiting a child from climbing over barriers and fences and inadvertently falling into a pool.
• Being CPR-educated and having lifesaving devices available (such as a shepherd’s hook and foam ring) can make a difference between a call to 911 or a brief scare.
Please remember and think ahead, so you don’t take unnecessary chances with the lives of your children when it comes to pool safety. We want to make sure 2017 has a big, fat ZERO in the column that counts Child Drowning Fatalities in Clark County!!
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