Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
>> AMITA SHARMA: Young children love water but the combination can be deadly.
Each year hundreds drown in pools, lakes, and oceans.
He we look at how to protect children from drowning as we approach the Memorial Day weekend.
Sue *** joins me now from Rady Children's Hospital.
Sue how quickly can a drowning occur even if a parent turns their back for just a few
minutes? >> It can happen in second and it's silent
so you don't get a warning. You have to be vigilant.
>> AMITA SHARMA: What are some of the typical scenarios under which drownings occur?
>> There are a couple. One is that the parents are distracted for
some reason, a phone call, maybe taking a nap, and the child gets out of the house and
into the yard and there is no fence around the pool and the child gets right to the pool.
If toys are left in the pool they are intrigued by that or just the water is intriguing to
them. The other scenario that's going to be at play
this weekend is parties. You have a pool party, lots of adults, lots
of kids around and a child slips under the water, nobody notices, nobody is assigned
to watch for that and a child is missing for a period of time and nobody knows how long.
>> AMITA SHARMA: The consumer products safety commission has come out with a list of the
most common places where drownings happen. Tell me about that.
>>> It happens in backyard pools and spas, primarily and in San Diego county we have
a number of bathtub drownings. >> AMITA SHARMA: And we have a graphic of
that. >>> Exactly.
>> AMITA SHARMA: 53% happen at home. >>> At home or in someone else's home, a relative's
home or a neighbor's home. >> AMITA SHARMA: And 26% at the homes of family
or friends and then 9% at public communities or businesses.
Tell me what are some of the statistics for San Diego county?
>> We see about somewhere between 65 and 70% of drownings happening in backyard pools and
spas with 0 to 4 years old so the younger children it's almost exclusively in backyard
pool and spas and also bathtub and we occasionally a bucket drowning.
This time of year when you are getting out wading pools it's important to note that a
child can drown in a couple of inches of water so even a bucket or a dog dish or a small
wading pool a young child can drown in it. >> AMITA SHARMA: What are safety tips for
parents? >> The most important thing is to realize
it can happen, to be vigilant. To have barriers if you have a pool in the
backyard barriers between the house and the pool and the best barrier you can have is
a 5foot or higher exclusionary fence so it can't be accessed by the house, the house
is on the side of the fence and it has a selflatching gate.
It shouldn't have towholds or footholds that kids can climb up because they're good at
climbing. >> AMITA SHARMA: What is the water watcher
program? >> We started this program many years ago
and it tells people when you have a pool event you're out around the pool that you formally
assign an adult, somebody who can swim to watch the kids.
That's their responsibility, they don't drink, they don't leave, if they have to leave, they
assign another adult to be the water watcher, because children can silently fall in and
not be noticed. >> AMITA SHARMA: And if a neardrowning happens,
what is the first course of action once the child is rescued from the water?
>> To pull the child out. The best case scenario is if the adult there
knows CPR. To check for a pulse, do everything that CPR
teaches you and to call 911 quickly. If the child is sputtering and breathes, it's
not quite as urgent but a child who is unresponsive get that 911 call made quickly.
>> AMITA SHARMA: And when a child is brought into the ER after a neardrowning, how likely
is it that the child can be saved? >> Well, many times with drowning situations
we don't really know how long the child was under the water.
If they have been missing for a period of time we don't know if they were walking around
the pool and just fell in or whether they fell in 10 minutes ago so we do everything
we can to recess take the the child but� recess� recussitate the child.
>> AMITA SHARMA: Sue ***, thanks for coming in.
>>> Thank you.