“Cook Children's is really invested in prevention in our community, and it's written into our promise,” said Jillian Mitchell, program coordinator for the injury prevention team at the Center for Community Health. 

Drowning is the leading cause of injury for children ages 1 to 4 at the highest risk. According to the 2024 Community Health Needs Assessment, Cook Children’s Medical Centers in Fort Worth and Prosper treated 224 drowning-related injuries from 2021 to 2023. These incidents occurred in bathtubs, open water (lakes, rivers, and ponds), and pools or hot tubs.  

Cook Children's Health Care System shows a slight decrease in drownings in the last five years: 

Mitchell notes that as summer vacation and hot weather arrive, families will be looking to cool off, but months may have passed since the last dip in the pool. 

“As we're heading out to any kind of open water or to a pool, it's important to have preparation top of mind,” said Mitchell. 

Lifesaving Access: Loaner Life Jacket Station 

To help protect swimmers in open water, Cook Children’s supports more than 60 Loaner Life Jacket Stations across North Texas. The stations provide five different sizes of U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jackets, ranging from infant to adult, which families can borrow and return free of charge. Each station features educational graphics detailing how to properly fit and secure the vests. 

Local officials at Lake Worth report that the stations are heavily utilized, with life jackets consistently borrowed and safely returned by the end of each weekend day. 

“We want to make sure that that resource is available for families that maybe don't have the opportunity to get a life jacket for their child,” said Mitchell. In 2025 alone, the program distributed more than 1,800 U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jackets to area lakes across Tarrant, Denton, Rockwall, and Stephens counties.  

Water Safety Tips 

• Transition time
  • Make sure to put a life jacket on children before you get out of the car.
  • If a child goes missing, check the water first.
• Designate a Water Watcher to ensure constant visual supervision.
  • A Water Watcher should be in-reach of the children in the pool.
  • A 10-15 minute shift rotation is recommended. During that time, Water Watchers should not be distracted by conversations, cell phones, reading, etc.
• Keep backyards and bathrooms safe.
  • Dump all water buckets and empty kiddie pools when they are not in use.
  • Install multiple barriers in areas leading to pools and spas: pool fences, self-closing, self-latching gates and door alarms.
  • Keep the pool area picked up and clear of toys and other items which might attract an unsupervised child.
  • Never leave children unattended in the bathtub.
• Wear “U.S. Coast Guard-Approved” or “USCG approved,” life jackets
  • As your child grows, the life jacket needs to meet their new weight.
  • Get a new life jacket if there are rips and tears or if the straps are fraying.
  • Do not rely on floats or other toys to keep children safe.
• Sign up for CPR and swim lessons.
  • The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends starting children in swim lessons as young as 12 months old to reduce the risk of drowning.
  • The National Drowning Prevention Alliance provides parents with a printable questionnaire to help identify the right swim program for their children.
• Have a safety plan in place.
  • If an emergency does happen, remember that seconds count. Call 911 immediately and then begin CPR while EMS is in route.
  • Know water conditions before you get into open water. Water conditions in lakes and oceans can vary on a daily basis.
  • Sit near a lifeguard if there is one present. 

"Combining swim lessons, life jackets, dedicated water watchers, brightly colored swimsuits, and pool fences creates multiple layers of protection," Mitchell said. "The more layers of safety you put in place, the lower the risk of drowning."

Related stories: 

• Big Game, Big Safety: Preventing Hot Car Tragedies 

• Make a Splash: Why Swim Lessons are Essential This Summer 

• The Power of Prevention: Cook Children's Reports a Drop in Drownings 

• Lifeguard Your Child: 6 Tips for Keeping Bathtime Safe in Every Season 

Drowning is the leading cause of injury, with children between the ages 1 to 4 at the highest risk. According to the 2024 Community Health Needs Assessment, Cook Children’s Medical Centers in Fort Worth and Prosper treated 224 drowning-related injuries from 2021 to 2023. These incidents occurred in bathtubs, open water (lakes, rivers, and ponds), and pools or hot tubs.  

“Spring break is really our kind of entry point of getting back into the water,” said Jillian Mitchell, program coordinator for the injury prevention team at the Center for Community Health. 

Cook Children’s Loaner Life Jacket Station provide five different sizes of U.S. Coast Guard approved life jackets, ranging from infant to adult, that can be borrowed and returned. The goal is to make sure no child or adult drowns at a public lake because they didn’t have access to a life jacket. In 2025 more than 1,800 U.S. Coast Guard life jackets to area lakes in Tarrant, Denton, Rockwall, and Stephens counties.  

Mitchell encourages families and caregivers to make a plan before heading to the water. The “Lifeguard Your Child” program teaches parents how to create a safety plan for children anytime they are around water. 

According to data from the Community Health Needs Assessment, 85% of drowning-related injuries were pool-or hot tub-related. Of those 8% were fatal, with most fatalities occurring with children ages 0 to 4. 

While many public and community pools are not yet open, families may travel to lakes, rivers, or oceans.  

“Open water behaves differently than in a pool,” explained Mitchell, “It's dark. It's deep, it's murky. Anyone that is on a lake or a river or in the ocean should wear a life jacket all the time because it is an unpredictable water source.” 

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends kids begin swim lessons as young as 1 year old. 

Mitchell shares these tips for families heading to the water for their spring break: 

• Learn about the flag system when you go out to the beach. 

• Sit near a lifeguard if there is one present.
• Look for a life jacket that's approved by the U.S. Coast Guard.
• Spring break is a great time to pull out those life jackets from last year. You may find that your child has outgrown the life jacket.
• Make sure that your children know they should always ask permission before going to the water. 

Related Stories:  

• Expert Tips for a Safe Spring Break: Aim for Safety
• Lifeguard Your Child: 6 Tips for Keeping Bathtime Safe in Every Season
• The Power of Prevention: Cook Children's Reports a Drop in Drownings
• Lifeguard Your Child: 5 Water Safety Tips for Parents 

Aug. 29th marks the “angelversary” of the passing of then 7-year-old Kyle Gracin Lewis. Kyle spent the week being the outdoorsy little boy he was – swimming, fishing, boating and camping in Lake Granbury and the Paluxy River near Glen Rose, Texas. A perfect family week right before school started.

The Lewis family clings on to those moments now before their little boy became ill and passing at Cook Children’s Medical Center from Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM), which was caused by the water-born amoeba Naegleria fowleri.

Since Kyle’s passing, his parents and his sister Peyton have become passionate advocates to make people aware of brain-eating parasites that are common in fresh, warm water. In 2010 the Lewis family started the Kyle Lewis Amoeba Awareness Foundation, aka Kyle Cares, with the goal of informing families of the potential dangers which exist in most freshwater.

In 2016, the family helped to make Cook Children's the first hospital in the nation to house a life-saving investigational drug called miltefosine. Timing is so critical when it comes to this amoeba and trying to save a life and Kyle Cares was instrumental in getting that potential life-saving drug into many hospitals around the country in hope that when the need arises, that medication could be more readily available.

“It’s always difficult this time of year, especially when you hear of more cases,” Jeremy Lewis, Kyle's dad, said. “Those reports hurt. It’s like the wounds are open again.”

“We hope that we can help other families not go through what we did with the passing of Kyle,” Julie Lewis, Kyle's mom, said. “We simply didn’t know the dangers. Our hope is we can save other families from going through the heartache that we went through then and continue to do so now.”

Just this past May, Kyle’s sister Peyton graduated from high school and in August she will be off to Tarleton State University to begin her journey to become a Child Life Specialist and it’s all because of the wonderful Child Life Specialists at Cook Children’s that cared for her and her brother during those days back in 2010. “We were grateful then for the care that was poured into our children by these wonderful ladies and they made such an impact on our daughter that we are all looking forward to her pursuing this certification, so she can be that special person to many children” states Julie.

For many Texas kids, the summer means time for fun activities such as fishing, swimming and water skiing. Unfortunately, those staples of summer could also lead to serious health complications, such as PAM.

According to the CDC, “only 4 people in the US out of 143 (diagnosed) have survived infection from 1962 to 2016. Signs and symptoms of Naegleria fowleri infection are clinically similar to bacterial meningitis, which lowers the chances of initially diagnosing PAM”.

Texas health officials say:

• From 1984-2013 (30 years) there were 28 cases of PAM reported to the Texas Department of State Health Services, just under one case per year.
• Most cases occurred in young males, 9-12 years of age, with a history of recent exposure to freshwater lakes, ponds and rivers during the warm summer months.

Mary Suzanne Whitworth, medical director of Infectious Diseases at Cook Children’s, says that children who spend time in still water run the greatest risk of the life-threatening parasite, entering their bodies. The dangerous amoebas are usually found in warm freshwater, such as lakes and rivers, but they could be in any standing body of water, including creeks or even puddles.

“Once a child is infected, everything happens very quickly,” Dr. Whitworth said. “We try our best to save the child’s life, but the parasites rarely respond to medications and are very difficult to treat. The infection tragically results in death almost uniformly.”

Use caution when swimming in fresh warmer water, especially in stagnant water. Naegleria fowleri grows best at higher temperatures up to 115 degrees (46 degrees Celsius) and can survive for short periods when the temperature rises even higher.

Do all you can to limit the amount of water going up the nose. Your best option is to keep your head above water, but you can reduce the chance to getting these infections inside the body by wearing nose plugs.

Dr. Whitworth says progress is being made in treating children who are infected by these dangerous parasites. But until a cure has been found, the most important thing is to be extremely careful if you are in fresh, warm water.

Related to this topic:

www.KyleCares.com

New hope in fight against deadly brain-eating amoeba