Drowning: The Silent Aquatic Public Health Threat in Florida for Children By: Lauren Broom
Within the Unites States, aquatic facilities provide exercise, recreation, and entertainment for our local communities. This is especially true here in Florida. Florida has a full year operational season with no requirement to winterize aquatic facilities. But this increases the state’s statistics of childhood drowning. There are many reasons that have contributed to the increase of drowning in the state that need to be addressed.
The reasons for some entities or persons not identifying this as a silent epidemic among our children could be due to money or budget constraints, lack of knowledge — either intentional or unintentional — or they are not sure how to address the problem with real world alternatives.
This article will hopefully help showcase the basic information on the drowning statistics in the state of Florida and highlight how we can assist in reducing our drowning numbers in the most vulnerable population of children between the ages of 1 to 4. This article will highlight an initiative by the Florida Swimming Pool Association (FSPA) that is legislatively trying to obtain funding from the state of Florida for childhood swim lessons in Florida counties with the highest childhood drowning rates.
Drowning should be addressed just like newborns sleeping on their backs, childhood vaccinations, and car seat safety. Drowning is just as deadly and as preventable as these other issues.
Florida’s Drowning Statistics
• From 2019 to 2021 combined, Florida was ranked the highest in the U.S. for unintentional drowning death rate among children ages 1 to 4 years (6.64 per 100,000 population).
• Florida had the highest unintentional drowning death rate of 3.25 per 100,000 population among children 0 to 9 years of age compared to other states (CDC national injury data).
• The counties in Florida with some of the highest drowning numbers are Broward, Hillsborough, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Pasco and Pinellas counties.
• Florida has the second highest number of total drownings right behind the state of Texas.
Source of Florida drowning statistics: https://www.floridahealth. gov/statistics-and-data/floridainjury- surveillance-system/ index.html State leaders need to make childhood drowning a priority within their local areas, but also at the state level. Funding needs to be set aside to help fund local child swim lessons. Every child in Florida should have the opportunity to learn to swim before they enter kindergarten.
The FSPA has supported childhood swim lessons within their local Florida chapters for many years by holding the “World’s Largest Swim
Lauren Broom is a Certified Pool Operator Course, CPO
, instructor and a former health inspector for the Florida Department of Health. Lauren has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology and is a registered sanitarian.
She has 16-years of experience in commercial pool inspections and waterborne disease outbreak investigations.
Lauren lives in Palm Bay, Florida with her husband of 17 years and their 3 children.
Lauren can be reached at spacecoastpoolschool@yahoo.com
Lauren Broom Stories
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Lesson” events in multiple areas of Florida. But FSPA has gone further with their initiative by filing House Bill 3395 on February 8, 2021, titled “Florida Swims: Swimming Lessons.”
The bill asks for appropriations in the amount of $200,000 from the General Revenue Fund to be moved to the Florida Department of Health to fund this house bill. The bill will help support and expand existing childhood learn-to-swim programs in Broward, Hillsborough, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Pasco, Volusia, and Pinellas counties, which have the highest drowning rates in the state.
The goal of the appropriation is to identify and multiply the effectiveness of childhood learn-to-swim programs that have the potential to be scaled up for statewide implementation in the near future. This legislative process and state funding could be modeled in other states interested in promoting childhood learn-to-swim programs locally.
