By James Buescher, Correspondent
Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, Pennsylvania)
Copyright 2006 Lancaster Newspapers, Inc.
Lancaster, Pa. — A 2-year-old boy wanders away from his father in Lancaster County Park. After he trips and falls into the deep end of the county’s swimming pool, he somehow becomes trapped behind a ladder.
Submerged, he goes unnoticed by those swimming around him.
A 13-year old girl celebrating a friend’s birthday in Mountville decides to go swimming in the shallow end of a nearby swimming pool. After she slips on the underwater slope leading down toward the deep end, she slides beneath the water and begins flailing her arms; meanwhile, her seventh-grade friends watching nearby think she is only playing a game.
Though both of these recent near-drownings in Lancaster County turned out all right — the 2-year-old was spotted and then freed by a fast-acting lifeguard, while the seventh-grader was saved by, of all people, the girl whose birthday everyone had come to the party to celebrate — for Merv Wertz, chief director of operations for Susquehanna Valley EMS, they underscore a need for increased attention to be paid to water safety, particularly during summer months when pools are open and children are out of school.
“The death of a child by drowning is a gut-wrenching, devastating tragedy. It also tends to be one that, in many cases, had been wholly preventable,” Wertz said Tuesday. “Occasionally, after a drowning, the child is revived without any permanent disabilities, but not always.”
According to Wertz, on average of two children (aged 14 and under) die every day from drowning, while another five children per day experience a near-drowning.
Most infants drown in bathtubs, toilets, or, in come cases, household buckets, he said, but children’s drownings tend to occur in just one place: residential swimming pools.
“The scary part is that most young children who drown in pools had been out of an adult’s sight for less than five minutes,” Wertz said. “And usually, those children were in the care of at least one adult at the time of the accidents.
“A swimming pool in the yard can be very dangerous for children; if possible, parents should not put a swimming pool in their yard until their children are older than 5 years,” Wertz said. “However, if parents already have a pool and have young children, there are some preventative steps that can be taken.”
To help protect children from drowning, Wertz advises parents to at least consider the following tips:
Never leave children alone in or near a swimming pool.
Put up a fence to separate a swimming pool from a residence. Most young children who became victims of drownings had wandered out of their house and fallen into a swimming pool, Wertz said. He also advised parents to install a fence at least 4 feet high around all sides of the pool.
Parents should use fence gates that self-close and self-latch, with latches higher than a child’s reach.
Keep rescue equipment (such as a shepherd’s hook or life preserver) and a telephone by the pool.
Do not let your child use air-filled swimming aids like water wings or pool noodles. “Swimming aids are not a substitute for a life vest,” Wertz said.
Anyone watching young children around a pool should learn CPR and be able to rescue a child if needed, Wertz said. He also cautioned parents, lifeguards and caregivers to stay within an arm’s length of a child when at a swimming pool.
Remove all toys from the pool after use so children aren’t tempted to reach for them.
After the children are done swimming, secure the pool so they can’t get back into it.
“Remember, teaching your child how to swim does not mean your child is safe in water,” Wertz said. “Implementing these few simple precautions are steps that parents can take to help save lives.”
Wertz, originally from Berks County, trained as a paramedic through Allentown Sacred Heart Hospital in Allentown. A paramedic for 27 years in both central Pennsylvania and Northern California, he is a recipient of the Paramedic of the Year Award from Solano County, just outside Sacramento.