Pediatric Drownings and Near Drownings

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Some statistics and pertinent information:

Drowning causes 1,500 deaths of children and adolescents each year in the United States; in some states such as California, it is the leading cause of injury death to preschool children. (American Academy of Pediatrics)

Drowning is the third leading cause of accidental death in the U.S., and children under the age of 5 are at particularly increased risk.

Most pediatricians (84 percent) attribute the drowning-related injuries they have treated to a lack of supervision. (American Academy of Pediatrics)

Childhood drowning is a quick and silent killer. It can occur within a matter of minutes and usually happens when children are left unattended.  When a child drowns, there is often no cry for help or loud splashing. Most toddlers drown in backyard swimming pools. However, bathtubs, buckets and spas can also pose problems because children can drown in as little as an inch of water.  Often-irreversible neurological damage occurs in as little as four to five minutes and within eight to 10 minutes in warm water drownings, the result is usually fatal.

Drownings are preventable tragedies, and everyone has a role in their prevention.

It Only Takes a Few Seconds to Prevent Drownings

Here are some safety tips.

  • Never leave a child unsupervised near water. Don't leave to answer the phone or door. Countless parents of drowning victims thought, "I'll just be gone for a minute."
  • If children are playing near water, appoint one person to watch them, so no one assumes someone else is doing it.
  • Even if you don't have a swimming pool, your kids still need to be supervised around water: Children can drown in buckets, bathtubs, baby pools, and even toilets.  Children have a natural attraction to water!

If there is a pool at the home:

  • Make sure it is fenced and closed off with self-latching gates.
  • Always keep a rescue device poolside.
  • Keep a phone by the pool.
  • Make the pool area inaccessible to children: block off pet doors, latch windows.

Basic Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)

The benefits to public knowledge of basic CPR cannot be overstated!  When someone is in respiratory and/or cardiac arrest the difference between life and death (or serious brain injury) literally equates to seconds—the earlier the intervention of basic resuscitative care, the better the odds of a favorable outcome when advanced life support arrives.  It is as simple as that.