‘NOT ON MY WATCH’

Drowning injuries and fatalities are so commonplace that the stories could fill up whole newspapers.

The CDC estimates that about 10 people die from drowning in the U.S. every day.

Children ages 1 through 4 have the highest drowning rates and most of those drownings happen in home swimming pools.

Drowning events are real, tragic, frequently preventable,and much more than just statistics.

There are measures that service technicians can take to promote drowning awareness.

Speak to parents about removing toys and other temptations from the pool area.

Encourage parents to learn about the layers of protection:pool covers, gates and alarms.

Remind parents there is no substitution for total supervision around the pool area.

Service professionals are in peoples’ backyards every day, and in a unique position to point out danger areas, but may not do so unless the drowning problem is brought home to them.

To that end, the following is a description of just some of the drowning incidents that have recently occurred.

Phoenix, Arizona, March 15 —

A 2-year-old boy who was taken to the hospital in extremely critical

condition after drowning in the family’s pool died at the hospital.

Lake, Florida, March 25 —

A 3-year-old boy was pronounced deceased 3 days after he was found unresponsive in the swimming pool when he got out of the vacation rental home undetected.

Manatee, Florida, March 26 —

A 3-year-old girl was pronounced deceased after she was found

unresponsive in the family’s swimming pool.

Roswell, Georgia, April 2 —

A 4-year-old boy drowned at an apartment complex swimming pool where social gathering was going on at the adjacent clubhouse.

The family found the boy in the pool when they realized they hadn’t seen him in some time.