Splash into Summer – Safely!
by Terese Schlachter
If you’re like us here at Crossing Currents Aquatics, the slightest whiff of spring has you looking forward to a cheerful sort of chore: prepping the pool for the summer season.
And while your very first thought might be the terrifying notion of getting your pale, bumpy, wintered body into a bathing suit, we’re going to let those personal issues be, well, personal, and instead focus on SAFETY. After all, May is National Water Safety Month.
First, a few sobering statistics, courtesy the American Red Cross.
Every year in the United States, 4000 people die from drowning. That’s eleven per day. Drowning is the number one cause of death among children aged one to four.
Most drownings of children under the age of five occur in a back yard pool or hot tub. There are many, many things you can do to prevent any of these sorts of tragedies from happening in your home. Starting with the basics, and, again, with a little help from the Red Cross, let’s review the “Circle of Drowning Prevention.”
There are five points.
The first is simple and pretty obvious: everyone in the household should learn to swim. You’re going to need some help with that, but no worries. Crossing Currents and their mobile division, Your Pool Swim School offers swim lessons for every age group. Your local Red Cross offers lessons in various locations too. If you start now, you’ll be stylin’ with some smooth strokes by the time you get the leaves out of the pool filters.
Next, make a point of swimming only in pools where a lifeguard—or a responsible adult—is on duty. Never swim alone.
Third, keep life jackets on hand, especially if there are children or other inexperienced swimmers involved in your backyard water adventures. For non-swimmers (or we’ll say not-yet-swimmers) life jackets shouldn’t be just on hand, they should be on-body. They won’t keep anyone afloat laying in a lounge chair.
Again, even if you think your child can swim, keep a constant vigil. Most drownings occur in just the few minutes it takes for you to retrieve your phone from the car or even the kitchen counter.
Finally, be sure your water feature (pool or spa) is securely fenced. Gates should have locks. You might also consider installing an underwater motion detector with an alarm audible from inside the house.
The start of the season is a perfect time to call a family meeting and review the pool rules. To help with that, Coach Traci has developed a Safe Swimmer Tool Kit you can download from the Crossing Currents Aquatics website. Inside, you’ll find a first aid checklist, suggested pool rules and a list of things you should have poolside, to keep everyone safe and attended to, in case of an emergency. You can be sure everyone in your family and friend circle is on board with the rules, by having them take the included safe swimmer pledge and…bonus! There’s a 20% off coupon in there for Crossing Currents Aquatics mobile swim services with Your Pool Swim School.
Keeping everyone safe this summer is easy and now is the perfect time to start gathering your tools…and your gumption to get into that bathing suit. Don’t forget the sunscreen.
We’ll be back next time with some open water swimming safety guidelines.
