Do This And Keep Your Grandchild From Drowning

Here’s How To Keep Your Grandchild From Drowning In Your Pool

Pool Safety: Before Your Next Dip Consider Our Safety Tips

Summer is here and it’s fun in the water time!. Before jumping in, please keep in mind that drowning is the third leading cause of death among children. Because a child can drown in as little as an inch of water, it’s important that and grandparents review these important tips to protect their grandchildren while at the pool.

AlertID, your neighborhood safety network and free program and app that helps protect families and neighborhoods, offers the ABCD’s of water safety to help protect your children near water. 

Adult Supervision

• From the first time, your g-kids swim, teach them to never go near or in water without an adult present.
• Enroll your grandchild in swimming lessons as soon as the parents feel they are ready.
• Give your g-kids your undivided attention near pools.
• When there is more than one adult present and children are swimming, designate one adult as the swim watcher for 15 minutes (and then switch) so someone is always watching the kids at all times.
• Teach older kids to swim with a buddy so they can help each other if they get into trouble.

Barriers

• Perimeter fences, self-closing and self-latching gates, as well as pool and motion sensor alarms can act as an added layer of protection in case a child wanders into the pool area unsupervised.

Classes in swimming and CPR

• CPR saves lives and can prevent brain damage by maintaining a person’s breathing and heartbeat until medical assistance arrives. Learn CPR and have your children learn this valuable skill.

Devices

• Don’t rely only on swim aids (floaties and inflatable toys) to protect your child unless you put them in an approved life jacket.
• Have lifesaving devices and life jackets available at your pool for your children or anyone who doesn’t know how to swim. 

How big is the problem?

• From 2005-2014, there were an average of 3,536 fatal unintentional drownings (non-boating related) annually in the United States — about ten deaths per day. An additional 332 people died each year from drowning in boating-related incidents.
• About one in five people who die from drowning are children 14 and younger. For every child who dies from drowning, another five receive emergency department care for nonfatal submersion injuries.
• More than 50% of drowning victims treated in emergency departments (EDs) require hospitalization or transfer for further care (compared with a hospitalization rate of about 6% for all unintentional injuries). These nonfatal drowning injuries can cause severe brain damage that may result in long-term disabilities such as memory problems, learning disabilities, and permanent loss of basic functioning (e.g., permanent vegetative state).

About AlertID

AlertID, your neighborhood safety network, is free to use and helps protect families and neighborhoods. AlertID’s mission is to help people live safely by providing a secure way to receive trusted public safety alerts and share information with family members and neighbors. AlertID uses technology to help citizens and federal, state and local authorities share information about crime, sex offenders, natural disasters, missing children and severe weather that can threaten public safety. AlertID is accessible to members online as well as by email and mobile app. For more information visit www.AlertID.com.