PULSE Magazine | June/July 2019 Issue

In The News More fatal youth drownings reported this year than all of 2018

Excerpts from Fox, KXAN, KVUE

Austin-Travis County EMS is reporting three drownings of people under the age of 18 so far this year as compared to only one in all of 2018.

Travis County has reported an uptick in children drowning. Since the first of the year, there have been at least 15 drowning incidents involving children under age 18 with- in the response area of Austin-Travis County. “Of those 15 three of them have been fatal. Which surpasses our total numbers from last year," ATCEMS Commander Mike Benavides said. "We had one last year in Travis County, and we’re barely starting to enter into the summer season.” All of the drowning incidents that have taken place in 2019, 14 involved children under the age of seven. Nine of the incidents took place at local pools. First respond- ers and water safety advocates stress that drownings can, and have happened everywhere -- bathtubs, buckets, even toilets. ATCEMS Captain Randy Chhabra said as of Wednesday afternoon, the five-year-old was in the intensive care unit at Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas. In nearby Williamson County, a girl died recently after a drowning incident at Cedar Park’s Buttercup Pool. The Cedar Park Police Department says the child was given CPR by lifeguards at the time of incident. EMS took over and transported her to a local hospital where she died the following day. The circumstances surrounding the drowning remained under investigation Wednesday. Chhabra says the “trending characteristics” in each Travis County drowning incident were lack of supervision and flotation. Guardians must utilize the “safer three” approaches to prevent drownings:

Safer water Safer kids

  

Safer response

Safer water means barriers, such as isolation fences, alarms and pool covers. Safer kids means swim lessons. Safer response means appropriate supervision. Additional safety advise given while enjoying the outdoors include:

 Know where you are and your surrounding at all times  Know who and what is in the water  Wear appropriate clothing and shoes  Put away all distractions such as your phone  Don’t be impaired by drugs or alcohol  Have safety rules and practices with your children and yourself

The most common distraction for adults is phones. Guardians need to remain at an arm's reach from children and become aware of and the location of available rescue devices. In addition guardians need to remember that drowning is a silent event. All guardians should be CPR certified.

“If children were to receive bystander CPR within the first five minutes of an arrest, they have a 300% greater likelihood of having a positive outcome” said Chhabra.

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