The months between May and August are particularly critical when it comes to drowning. It's the height of swim season when children are out splashing around. Which is why experts encourage parents and caregivers to focus on drowning prevention.
Mom Amy Saracino saw how quickly a child could fall victim. "My older son when he was small, probably three or four like she is, just walked into a common pool area, and fell in" Now she keeps a close eye on her four year old daughter.
Every year in the state of Florida, the equivalent of three preschool classrooms drown. It's the leading cause of death in children under the age of five.
Lee Memorial Hospital's Alex Daneshmand works in pediatric critical care and is called on to treat children, "In one instant they're happy, healthy, having fun, and then and you look hours later and we're unfortunately providing them resuscitation to keep them alive." He advocates using layers of protection, beginning with supervision. "If they're around a body of water we would like the parents to remember somebody needs to be designated to be watching them." he says. "We call them water watchers."
Other lines of defense are pool gates, alarms and having an emergency plan including CPR. "By creating these barriers, creating these obstacles around the pool and having these plans around you can prevent these deathss perhaps" he says.
Together they build layers of protection that can safeguard children from drowning.
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Lee Memorial Health System in Fort Myers, FL is the largest network of medical care facilities in Southwest Florida and is highly respected for its expertise, innovation and quality of care. For nearly a century, we've been providing our community with everything from primary care treatment to highly specialized care services and robotic assisted surgeries.
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