An estimated 65,000 people in the United States alone do not know how to swim. It is reported that 54% of adult Americans cannot swim and my belief is our community tends to be much higher with the melting pot of different cultures. Many adults learned how to swim as young children but never go into the water anymore and have forgotten how to swim over the years. Others were never taught and continue to avoid the activity altogether. It was once thought that knowing how to swim was very important but now it is more up to the individual.
We all need to place a higher priority on learning the basics of swimming, since drowning is preventable. Worldwide, we lose 370,000, the U.S loses approximately 10 people per day, totaling approximately 3,700 annually. In 2016, Broward County lost 80 individuals due to drowning. Drowning is everyone’s responsibility and can happen to anyone.
There should always be someone supervising individuals while they’re in the water. If you child has little or no mobility, a caregiver should be holding them or be within arms reach. If negligence occurs, find out if can you sue a caregiver. Always assign a water watcher, no matter who is in the pool.
If you have small children in your home or visiting your home, please install alarms on all doors leading outside, install a 4-sided barrier around any body of water, learn to swim and learn CPR. We have seen an increase in drowning’s while a secondary caregiver is caring for the child, whether it is a grandparent, aunt, uncle or babysitter-they need to be educated on proper water safety too.
A couple of other areas we all should become more educated on are:
• Dry Drowning also known as Secondary Drowning
• Hypoxic Blackout or Shallow Water Blackout
• How to escape a vehicle that goes into a canal.
Our county has so many amazing resources, Children Services Council provides a $40 swim coupon for Broward county residents 6 months to 4 years of age by visiting watersmartbroward.org and Swims/McGovern Foundation provides adult swim coupons to Broward county residents by visiting SWIMSfoundation.org.
What we wouldn’t give to have our sweet, beautiful daughter here with us, but we were all victims of her accidental drowning. No one wants to think about these type of things happening but unfortunately they do! We are working diligently to change the mindset, “It can’t happen to me,” to “Always Check the Water First!”
Please join us at our annual golf fundraiser to Take a Swing Against Drowning on Friday, May 5th! We look forward to all of the athletes and concerned citizens who will make a difference for this cause.
