‘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 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, 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.
Lone Grove, Oklahoma, August 29 —
2-year-old Konner Miller fell into a pool and drowned. His twin brother survived the incident but
is fighting for his life at a children’s hospital.
Destin, Florida, August 31 —
29-year-old Brennan May, a Navy diver, drowned in his swimming pool while swimming the pool length and doing breathing exercises as training. May reportedly came up briefly and chatted with his wife before going under and lying on the bottom of the shallow pool. After minutes on the bottom, his wife went to check on him and found him not breathing. He was transported to the hospital and pronounced dead.
Porter, Indiana, August 31 —
A 3-year-old girl drowned in a residential pool. Police believe the girl was unattended and the circumstances remain under investigation.
Bakersfield, California, September 1 —
63-year-old Mary Wilson was found unresponsive in a residential swimming pool. She died the following day.
Phoenix, Arizona, September 1 —
38-year-old Shanna Hogan was swimming with her 14-month-old son Zander, when she slipped and hit her head and became submerged in her backyard pool.
Her husband arrived and found their son safely outside the pool and in his life vest, but his wife of 20 years was unconscious in the water.
Her husband performed CPR until paramedics arrived and she was rushed to a local hospital where she remained for several days in critical condition, until she died on September 1.
Shanna Hogan was a best selling author of truecrime novels including “Dancing With Death”, “Picture Perfect”, “The Jodi Arias Story”, “The Stranger She Loved”, and “Secrets of a Marine’s Wife”.
Shanna was also an award winning journalist and an adjunct professor at her alma mater, Arizona State University, in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.
A family friend has set up a GoFundMe page to help with the medical bills and memorial costs, as well as to help support their son Zandler.
Seminole, Florida, September 2 —
A 2 1/2- year-oldboywaspronounceddeceasedafterhe was found unresponsive in the family’s swimming pool.
Bend, Oregon, September 3 —
60-year-old Bonnie Peterson drowned while swimming alone in a motel pool. An employee found the unresponsive woman, pulled her from the pool, called 911 and began CPR. She died at the scene.
Shreveport, Louisiana, September 5 —
5-year-old Kayson Bradford died at the hospital after drowning in a home pool.
Millstadt, Illinois, September 9 —
23-month-old boy was found unresponsive in a backyard pool. The child died while at the hospital.
