Happy Swimming This Summer

       As the short cold winter days slide into a warm gentle spring we anticipate the longer, sunnier days of summer. I think everyone looks forward to spending several of those days at the beach or poolside or somewhere that we can cool down and enjoy the water. I pray that before that time gets here we all take a few minuets to refresh and reacquaint ourselves with the safe ways to have fun in the water, of knowing the signs when someone needs help, and knowing what to do.

       I wanted to start a blog that would serve a double purpose. First, I would like to remind everyone how important it is to know how to be safe while swimming. Second, knowing what the signs of a drowning person are and how to help, can actually save a persons life. Also, anyone out there that would like to share what has happened or almost happened to them, please add your input. I want to prevent death from drowning this year, or at least cut the figures way, way down. Some times there are circumstances that just can not be fore seen but too many times it is the people that are just out having fun that forget what is safe and what is not. What we have already been through might help to open some eyes and save some lives.

       I lost my mother, my best friend and almost lost my own life in a drowning accident and have wanted to express my feelings about what happened, how it changed my life forever and how it might have been prevented. Now we have the technology and the resources to be more aware, make better choices and be more informed about where we go and how prepared we are even if it is “just having fun.”

       Going to the lake at a state park or a public pool, the old swimming hole down at the creek or a stock pond, to cool off and play. The precautions that one must take are the same. There are not always lifeguards, in fact there are very few these days. Many states have done away with the lifeguards at state parks, looking for a way to cut state budgets. They add facilities with showers, for a fee, and elaborate concession stands hoping to draw more of a crowd and thus more revenue. They don’t seem to care about the safety. The signs read “SWIM AT YOUR OWN RISK” or “NO SWIMMING”. Yet we want to get in that beautiful, cool, welcoming water. A child can drown in 20 seconds. Drowning is often silent as the mouth fills with water and the victim is unable to call for help. One does not jump up and down, wave their arms and yell. They are trying to get their head high enough to get a breath. As the arms come up to push their weight down to elevate their head and grab some air, there is no time to yell. Even a parent, untrained in the signs, will not know what is happening until it is too late. Parents that may be trained can become so distraught over seeing their own child in danger that they panic and cannot think clearly. These facts and the findings of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as reported in a special report from the Pennsylvania Department of the Auditor General, “Eliminating lifeguards on lake beaches at Pennsylvania state parks“, May 2008. That report found that the second leading cause of death due to injury among children between the ages of 1 and 14 is drowning. More over, those children between the ages of 5 and 14 typically drown not only in swimming pools but also in open water, such as lakes and rivers.

       More trained eyes on our nation’s beaches, not less, would be worth it if they saved just one life. What lifeguards we do have are usually underpaid collage students that have to pay hundreds of dollars for their own training. An article in the New York Times, in September of 2010, reveals lifeguards caught using cell phones and texting, taking their attention off their duties. Your safety and your children’s safety are up to you. Learn CPR; know the water you are diving into, how deep it is and if there is a current. Know, and be honest with yourself, about your skills as a swimmer. So, what if some of the others in the group tease you if you say you can’t swim, it’s your life, not theirs. Be sure that the distance you swim out, you can swim back. So many times people misjudge, muscles get tired, cramp up, we are “out of wind”, our lungs are burning, gasping for air, but now we have to swim back. Maybe we are on the way back and try to signal for someone to help us. They are all partying, already back on dry land; some may even wave to you thinking you are just waving to them. What happens now?

       My mother knew how to swim; she drowned saving the lives of her child and her friends children. The distance was too great and the waters too rough. She went back one too many times. I thank her everyday for what she did but I also wonder what my life would have been like to have a mother.