‘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, 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.

DeSoto, Texas, December 5 —

A 3-year-old boy is alive due to the heroic efforts of Davion Dawson, a La Quinta Inn employee, who used CPR to revive the boy who drowned in a hot tub.

The boy’s father was yelling for help saying his son had drowned in the hotel hot tub. When Dawson started CPR the boy had no pulse. He was hospitalized for several weeks.

Park City, Utah, December 14 —

22-year-old John Johnson, a Naval Academy Midshipman, drowned while practicing holding his breath in a hotel pool.

He told three friends, with whom he had been consuming alcohol throughout the day, that he was going to hold his breath longer than ever before.

When he didn’t surface for about five minutes, his friends pulled the unconscious man from the water. He died at the hospital.