Friday, March 29, 2024

April is Water Safety Awareness Month

Summer fun in the sun is just over the horizon and that means lots of kids will soon be splashing into area pools and water parks. The Southlake Public Education Team is again partnering with Cook Children’s Hospital “Safe Kids” program during Aprils’ Water Safety Awareness Month to ensure that everyone has a safe summer.

Practicing water safety, especially where children are concerned, is vitally important because drowning is the number one cause of death among kids under the age of 5. Texas also leads the nation in child pool drownings. That’s why it is so important to get this water safety message out now before summer arrives.

Safe Kids has created a list of water safety prevention tips as well as a laminated bracelet tag for adults to wear at the pool.  The “Water Watcher” bracelet signifies that you are on “active watch” while at the pool. It’s more than just being present; it’s actively watching your child, and other children, with no distractions.

DrowningPreventionWebsite

Safety experts say following safety precautions around residential pools or any body of water, such as lakes and water parks, can prevent drownings. They say the best way is to think in layers of protection. The more layers of protection you have the safer your child will be.

Here are suggested layers of protection for your child:

  • Make sure children are wearing life vests that are U.S. Coast Guard-approved
  • Make sure your backyard pool has a fence around it with self-latching gates
  • Designate non-distracted “Water Watchers”
  • Update and maintain pool drains and cleaning systems
  • Know cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
  • Have your child take swimming and water safety lessons
  • Have pool/door/child alarms installed
  • Have a list of pool rules posted

Drownings and near drownings are 8 times more likely to happen to children that don’t know how to swim or are being supervised by adults that don’t know how to swim.

Southlake Fire Chief Mike Starr wants to remind parents and other adults that drowning is silent. “Typically there are few signs that someone is drowning such as screaming or flailing of the arms.  The swimmer simply begins to sink and that is why it is so crucial to have a Water Watcher with eyes on swimmers at all times,” said Chief Starr.

Check locally to find out where you can sign up your kids for swimming lessons. If you would like to learn CPR the Fire Department teaches classes the 3rd Saturday of each month.  You can contact Fire Prevention Officer Renni Burt at (817) 748-8349 to sign up for CPR or to get a Water Watcher Tag.

The Public Education Team wants everyone to have a fun and safe summer.

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