Keep Safety in Mind While Cooling Off in the Water
In two-thirds of cases, the parents or caregivers of toddler-aged children found dead or nearly drowned in a pool or a spa thought their children were either sleeping or playing elsewhere in the house.
Drowning deaths can happen quickly. Most young children who drowned in pools had been out of sight less than five minutes and were in the care of one or both parents at the time, according to the CDC.
When it comes to water safety, particularly involving children, you can never take too many precautions, emergency physicians say. Ways to prevent deaths from drowning include:
Never leave a child unattended near a swimming pool, wading pool, bathtub or hot tub.
Don't leave open containers of water near children. Small children can drown in just a few inches of water. Since 1973, more than 500 children have drowned in bathtubs, hot tubs, toilets and five-gallon buckets, according to University of California, Los Angeles Health Services.
Take your children for swimming lessons, with a qualified swimming instructor if possible, as early as you can.
Never permit anyone, adults included, to swim alone.
Enclose pools and hot tubs with fences with self-locking gates.
Add A New CommentComments
There are no comments yet. Be the first to get the conversation started.