Drowning Prevention Coalition of Arizona

Teach your child how to float with a life jacket! You can help prevent child drownings by having your child wear the right life jacket and teaching them to use it properly. A life jacket is not a substitute for adult supervision - NEVER leave a child unattended in or near the water.  Be sure to check out our three part lifejacket series for more information on how to pick the right device, how to fit it properly and tips on how to supervise kids while in the water. Life Jacket Series: Part 1 - Devices Life Jacket Series: Part 2 - Proper Fit Life Jacket Series: Part 3 - Teach Supervision Let's get to work on teaching your child how to float with a life jacket. Floating in a calm, "face-up" position is not something that comes naturally to children. Before going boating or just wearing a life jacket in the back yard pool, teach your child how to float safely. 1. Teach your child to be calm in the water. Children sometimes panic when they enter the water. This...

Life Jacket Series: Part 3 - Teach Supervision Throughout the world, one  million children die of unintentional injuries each year.  Millions of other children are injured in ways that can affect them for a lifetime. The good news is that these injuries are preventable. There are solutions that are proven to work especially when it comes to keeping children safe around water. Research shows survivors of boating accidents were t wo times more likely to survive when wearing  a life jacket. In addition, there is evidence to show that simple act of wearing a life jacket for the first time improves  one's performance on donning a second life jacket  - which means using an object to reduce drowning is teachable.  The  Dangerous Waters Report  by Safe Kids Worldwide confirms what most professionals know to be true that the group with the highest risk of drowning are children aged one through four years. Safe Kids Maricopa County and Phoenix Chi...

Life Jacket Series: Part 2 - Proper Fit Throughout the world, one  million children die of unintentional injuries each year.  Millions of other children are injured in ways that can affect them for a lifetime. The good news is that these injuries are preventable. There are solutions that are proven to work especially when it comes to keeping children safe around water. Research shows survivors of boating accidents were t wo times more likely to survive when wearing  a life jacket. In addition, there is evidence to show that simple act of wearing a life jacket for the first time improves  one's performance on donning a second life jacket  - which means using an object to reduce drowning is teachable.  The  Dangerous Waters Report  by Safe Kids Worldwide confirms what most professionals know to be true that the group with the highest risk of drowning are children aged one through four years. Safe Kids Maricopa County and Phoenix Children's...

Life Jackets Save Lives The National Drowning Prevention Alliance Encourages Boaters to Practice Safe Boating Written By: Alan Korn, J.D. - Executive Director, Abbey's Hope The National Drowning Prevention Alliance wants to get something off its chest and on to yours-- a personal floatation device otherwise known as a life jacket. If you are heading to a lake river, ocean or other open body of water as the summer winds down, you'll be joining tens of thousands of other fun seekers to take advantage of these idyllic vacation spots. The enjoyment, however, is not without risk. Far too many boaters drown each year because they didn't know or ignored basic boating safety tips. Each year, an average of 700 people die in boating-related accidents nationally and nearly 80% of those victims were not wearing a life jacket. "Many boating related fatalities are a result of people falling overboard or getting swamped in a small boat and eventua...

Consumer Product Safety Commission Pool & Spa Drowning and Entrapment Report -- Good News Many Fronts The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), a valued National Drowning Prevention Alliance partner, released its 2018 report, Pool or Spa Submersion: Estimated Nonfatal Drowning Injuries and Reported Drownings, along with an updated report on suction entrapment incidents in swimming pools, spas and whirlpool bathtubs. This year's report shows that the number of reported fatal child drownings in swimming pools and spas involving children younger than five-the most vulnerable population-have not significantly increased from last year's report. On average, there were 351 reported fatal child drownings in pools and spas in 2015 involving children younger than 15, compared to 346 reported fatal child drownings in pools and spas in 2014 involving children younger than 15. Other key findings in the government report include: Annually, 73 percent of...

An article written by Michael at the Samuel Morris Foundation took the time to lay out the importance of journalists referring to drowning as fatal or non-fatal when reporting drowning related incidents.  What is Drowning? Succinctly from Dr Justin Sempsrott 7  with  Lifeguards Without Borders and Starfish Aquatics Institute ) 1. Any person – adult or child – who has been in or under the water and has symptoms of difficulty breathing, excessive cough, foam or froth in the mouth, or aren’t acting right that occur immediately or within a few hours of being in the water had a non-fatal drowning and should seek care from a doctor. Symptoms usually appear immediately, but may be delayed by a few hours or get progressively worse. Onset or worsening of symptoms usually occurs within the first 8 hours of submersion. 2. There is no such thing as “dry” or “wet”, “delayed”, or “secondary” drowning. Anyone with respiratory impairment, not acting right, excessive cou...