‘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.

Speaktoparentsaboutremovingtoys 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.

Siesta Key, Florida, March 7 —

A child was hospitalized in unknown condition after its parents discovered the child in the pool at a vacation rental.

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, March 16 —

Nineteen-month-old twins Locklyn and Loreli Callazzo drowned in their home’s swimming pool. Their mother found them in pool and said they couldn’t have been out of sight for longer than ten minutes. They were pronounced dead at the hospital.

Maricopa, Arizona, March 16 —

A 2-year-old girl died at the hospital the day after drowning in her home’s pool.

Osceola, Florida March 17 —

A 3-year-old child was pronounced deceased after he was found unresponsive in the swimming pool at the rental house where the family was vacationing from another state.

Oakland County, Michigan, March 25 —

A 5-year-old boy who went missing from his house was found by police after an extensive search dead in a neighbor’s aboveground pool.