“A drowning can occur in any body of water at any time,” said Jillian Mitchell, community health program coordinator at Cook Children’s Health Care System.

Mitchell explains that data shows infants have the greatest risk for drowning inside the home, while children ages 1-4 have the greatest risk for drowning overall. Cook Children’s has developed strategic partnerships and efforts to inform and educate families on water safety.

“After seeing that a majority of drownings were occurring during a planned swim time, it became clear that strong messaging around adult supervision is key,” said Mitchell.

Eighty-eight percent of drownings occur with at least one adult present. The “Lifeguard Your Child” program teaches parents how to create a safety plan for children anytime they are around water.

Those tips include:

• Designate an adult Water Watcher to ensure constant visual supervision of children in and around water.
• Implement 15-minute shifts for Water Watchers.
• No Distractions: The Water Watcher must have no distractions, including conversations, phones, reading, or consuming alcohol.

“We know that distractions are a key component of unintentional injuries around planned swim time, so sharing these messages are strong reminder that drowning-related injuries and fatalities are preventable with non-distracted supervision,” said Mitchell.

Swim Lessons

Learning to swim can reduce drownings by more than 80%. Cook Children’s recognizes there is a disparity in access to swim lessons and saw an opportunity to collaborate with swim schools in the community. As a result, free Water Safety lessons are provided in select areas in under-resourced neighborhoods through community partnerships.

“By committing to taking a multi-layered strategic approach, the goal is to encourage safer choices in and around open water activities,” said Mitchell.

It is not just pools but ponds and lakes where water safety is important, and life jackets can help. Cook Children’s has a partnership with the Brazos River Authority in Granbury and Possum Kingdom Lake to provide water safety education at local schools and camps. The efforts extend into more than a dozen counties with loaner life jacket stations that Cook Children’s has built and supports.

“We hope to instill the importance of choosing the safest floatation device for their child,” said Mitchell. She adds that life jackets are not a substitute for supervision.

Choosing the right life vest:

• If the lifejacket does not say “U.S. Coast Guard-Approved” or “USCG approved,” you can assume it is not safe. Always check the label.
• As your child grows, the lifejacket needs to meet their new weight.
• Get a new lifejacket if there are rips and tears or if the straps are fraying.
• Do not rely on floats or other toys to keep children safe.
•  Always assign an adult water watcher when children are swimming, even if they are fitted with a life vest.

Water safety is year-round

Mitchell adds that water safety continues well into the winter months.  Drowning can happen in only an inch or two of water, just enough to cover your child’s nose and mouth.  Last year, Cook Children’s saw an uptick in bath-related drownings.

“We know that bath-related drownings are 100% preventable,” said Mitchell. “Much of our education focuses heavily on behavior change around preparedness, 100% adult supervision, and general safety concepts.”

Bathtub safety tips:

1. Ensure an adult stays at the side of the tub within reach of the child throughout the entire bath. This is too big of a responsibility for siblings and other children, so don’t ask them to take over for you. 
    
2. Avoid multitasking. Preparing dinner, folding laundry, or any other housekeeping tasks can and must wait until after the bath is over.
    
3. Ignore distractions like the doorbell or cell phones. Stepping or looking away from your child for even a few seconds can put them at risk of drowning.
    
4. Be prepared. Keep a towel and bath supplies close at hand, so you do not need to get up and leave during bath time. 
    
5. Treat every bath as a time to relax and bond with your baby or toddler. Bath toys like foam letters, animals that shoot water, and waterproof books are a great way to make the bathtub more fun and teach your child new things at the same time! 
    
6. Safety proof your home to prevent young children from accessing the bathroom without an adult. The more barriers in place, the safer your child will be.
    
7. If you absolutely have to leave during bath time, swaddle your child in a towel and bring them with you. 
    
8. Remove all toys and drain the tub immediately after each use.

Drowning is the leading cause of accidental death for children ages 1 to 4, and the second leading cause for kids 1-14 in Texas. 88% of drownings occur with at least one adult present. 

That’s scary information, but there are steps you can take to help protect your child around water, whether it is swim time, unplanned time around water or even bath time:

1. Designate a Water Watcher to ensure constant visual supervision.

• Drowning occurs silently, so designate a Water Watcher to watch children in and around all water, even when a lifeguard is present. A Water Watcher should be in-reach of the children in the pool. The safest way is to be in the pool with them.
• A Water Watcher tag can be used to designate responsible adults to watch the water when you have a party at the pool, lake or beach. At social gatherings, 10-15 minute shifts are recommended. During that time, Water Watchers should not be distracted by conversations, cell phones, reading, etc.
• Stay alert. There isn’t a more important responsibility.

2. 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 pool area picked up and clear of toys and other items which might attract an unsupervised child.
• Never leave children unattended in the bathtub. Keep a towel and bath supplies close at hand, so you do not have to leave during bath time.
• Install safety latches on toilets

3. Wear lifejackets. 

• The single most important thing when it comes to open water safety is a life vest. Especially in murky water with a current, it can be the difference between life and death. If the lifejacket doesn’t say “ U.S. Coast Guard-Approved” or “USCG approved,” you can assume it’s not safe. Always check the label.
• As your child grows, the lifejacket needs to meet their new weight. Get a new lifejacket if there are rips and tears or if the straps are fraying.
• Do not rely on floats or other toys to keep children safe.

4. Sign up for CPR and swim lessons. 

• Studies show that formal swim lessons for children under age 4 reduce drowning by 88 percent.
• Take swim lessons with your child if you don’t know how to swim yourself. Even adults who are strong swimmers should never swim alone.
• Need help finding swim lessons? Check out this list of providers in the Tarrant County Area. If you’re not in Tarrant County, you may want to contact your local YMCA, Red Cross, or parks and recreation center for information in your area.
• Learning CPR can be the difference between life and death while waiting for emergency personnel to arrive. Check your local Red Cross and YMCA for CPR classes.

5. 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.

Related Stories

• Lifeguard Your Child: Prevent Bathtub Drownings 
• Lifeguard Your Child: Don’t Take a Vacation From Water Safety
• What Color Is Your Child's Swimsuit? Experts Say Choose Safety Over Fashion 
• In the Words of a Grieving Mother: Teenagers & Open Water Drowning 
• What's a Water Watcher Tag? How One Item in Every Household Can Help Prevent Drownings
• Checklist: Keeping Your Pool Safe for All Swimmers 
• Keeping Kids Afloat: Infant Swimming Resource Self-Rescue 
• Swim Lessons Save Lives: Answering Top Questions With a Professional Swim Instructor
• Try on for Size: Tips for Best Fit, Safe Practices for Wearing Life Jackets

It’s never too early to teach children to be safe around water. After all, if a baby can crawl, they can make their way to a pool or open body of water. Any number of things can lure them there — a floating toy or sheer curiosity as they naturally explore the world around them. Whatever the reason, the result could be deadly. 

The American Academy of Pediatrics says children as young as 1 year old can benefit from water competency training, which is teaching kids to understand the danger water poses, how to avoid it and how to survive should they find themselves in water alone.

“I think the No. 1 thing that water competency gives a young child is confidence,” said Jillian Mitchell, a community health program specialist at Cook Children’s Medical Center. “If a child falls in unexpectedly they are in a situation that might induce panic, but being water-competent is having the confidence to know what to do to survive.”

While most toddlers aren’t coordinated enough to learn traditional swim strokes, they can learn basic survival skills like surfacing, turning onto their backs to float with their head above water and reaching for the wall of the pool.  

Kelsey Strieby calls it aquatic problem-solving. She is a Certified Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) Self-Rescue® instructor and has taught hundreds of children water survival and self-rescue skills. 

“There are two components to this,” Strieby said. “It's the roll-back-to-float program and the swim-float-swim program. But the first priority is being able to float to survive.”

Survival Becomes Second Nature

As an ISR instructor, Strieby teaches infants and children to roll onto their backs and float if they fall into the water. After the child has been walking for a few months, they’ll advance to learn to swim, then roll onto their back and float, and swim again until they can grab the side of the pool. If they are in a larger body of water and cannot get to the side, Strieby teaches kids to survive by floating on their backs until help arrives. 

Her students don’t learn a specific swim stroke or even to tread water, but to use their natural movement, like when they are crawling or walking, to bring themselves to the surface. 

“Self-rescue is taught using muscle memory and each child’s unique muscle movement,” Strieby said. “So the kids actually simulate like they're walking or crawling through the water. We don't teach a specific movement of the hand or leg. We will guide them through how to move effectively in the water and reinforce that moving their arms is great, but how that arm moves or how that leg moves is specific to that child.”

Just like riding a bike, consistency and repetition with these skills promote muscle memory and competence. If the unthinkable happens, those trained responses kick in, giving little ones a chance to survive.

“We want their survival response in water to become second nature,” Mitchell said.

Children with special health, developmental and learning needs benefit from this approach, too, especially if traditional swim lessons are not a good fit for them or learning specific swim strokes is outside of their developmental abilities. Every one of Strieby’s students undergoes a health assessment that is reviewed by a nursing team before beginning lessons, so she can tailor her teaching to their particular needs. 

Choose Wisely

When it comes to finding the right water competency program for your child, Strieby encourages parents to do their research. A quick social media search of infant swim lessons will return all kinds of videos of very young children, even babies, seemingly learning to swim, but Strieby cautions that not all of these approaches are practical or safe. 

“We don't throw babies into the water and let them sink or swim,” she said. “Programs that claim they teach survival and show videos of them chunking children into the water—that should never ever happen in an ISR self-rescue lesson. It should be a guided, safe and gentle approach. I always tell people, if you are going to commit to doing a survival swim program, please do your homework and make sure it's a program with a certified instructor who has had quality training and that the program has safety protocols in place.”

Strieby’s lessons do include simulations of situations in which a child may fall into the water. They even practice survival skills in diapers as well as summer, fall and winter clothing because many drownings occur when kids are fully clothed and not expected to be near water. In 2021, over 60% of patients brought to Cook Children’s following a drowning incident were from accidents that occurred during an unplanned swim time.

Respect the Danger

Water competency and rescue skills also teach kids to have a healthy fear of water as they are introduced to the natural consequences of going into the water alone, like not being able to breathe and the hard work it takes to stay afloat. 

“Kids who learn to self-rescue learn that if they fall into that water and mom is not right there, they are going to be responsible for their own lives and getting their own air,” Strieby said. “As silly as it sounds, this creates a healthy boundary for many kids, because they don't want to have to do that hard work. They don’t want to have to use their skills unnecessarily.”

The majority of Strieby’s students are under the age of 4, but she does teach self-rescue to children up to six years of age. Once they master survival and self-rescue skills, some kids go on to traditional lessons with other programs to learn specific swim strokes. Either way, children who learn water competency and rescue skills from an early age are better equipped to survive a water-related accident. 

Even so, Mitchell cautions that swim and self-rescue lessons are not a replacement for the layers of protection needed to prevent children from drowning. Maintaining barriers to and around the pool, keeping pools clear of toys attractive to little ones when not in use, having a designated water watcher and wearing a life jacket are all important components of water safety, whether a child does or does not know how to swim. 

If your child or teen recently hit a growth spurt, last summer’s life jacket might not fit now.

So before your family heads to the lake, make sure everyone has a life jacket that fits properly, based on the weight of the person wearing it. Check the weight limits on the label – and try it on before getting in the water.  One of the keys to drowning prevention depends on the appropriate size life jacket.

A small model designed for a 50-pound swimmer isn’t guaranteed to hold up someone who weighs more. A too-big life jacket, meanwhile, won’t keep a child’s head above water.  

“Proper fit can’t be emphasized enough,” said Kyle Lewis, project manager and program coordinator for the Brazos River Authority at Lake Granbury, southwest of Fort Worth. “A jacket should fit the child snug. In my opinion, you should not get more than two or three fingers under the shoulder straps.”

Lewis travels to area schools to talk about water and boating safety. In his demonstrations, he puts an oversized life jacket on a student and holds onto the shoulder portion while the student steps off a chair. The life jacket pops up when the student goes down.

“If the life jacket fits, the child’s chin and ears will not slip through,” according to the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG). “A device that ‘rides up’ around your face, or worse, falls off in rough water is dangerous. The floatation needs to stay snug around your body and lift you out of the water with your airway clear.”  

Safe Kids North Texas, a community coalition based in Fort Worth and led by Cook Children’s, aims to raise awareness about water safety in lakes, swimming pools, bathtubs and any other place where children have access to water. Safe Kids partners with regional cities and agencies such as the Brazos River Authority to provide education and resources through the nationally recognized Lifeguard Your Child campaign. 

It's an urgent message: Drownings are the leading cause of accidental death in children ages 1-4, and the second top cause of accidental death for children under age 14. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports that for every child who dies by drowning, another eight receive emergency care for non-fatal drowning injuries, which can include brain damage. 

“We have seen several boating accidents where the child was severely injured, but thankfully they had a life vest on so they stayed afloat until help could get to them,” said Sharon Evans, who collects data in her role as trauma injury prevention coordinator at Cook Children’s.

Three of the 82 non-fatal drownings treated at Cook Children’s Medical Center in 2021 occurred in open water. Eight drownings seen at Cook Children’s were fatal last year. Evans said most of the 2021 drownings happened in swimming pools in backyards, apartments, hotels or community locations.  As of early May, there have been 20 total drownings in 2022, three of them fatal.

Lewis and his crew plan to distribute about 250 free life jackets at giveaway events at Lake Granbury during the month of May. Safe Kids and the Brazos River Authority are providing life jackets, which come in four sizes: infant, 35-50 pounds, 50-90 pounds and adult small. Lake rangers will be on hand to help ensure the right fit.

If you’re purchasing a new life jacket, check to verify the label says “USCG approved.” Through testing, the Coast Guard designates what qualifies as a life-saving device. Not all styles on the market meet the USCG regulations.

Dana Walraven, manager for Community Health Outreach at Cook Children’s, recommends first, finding “USGC approved" on the label, and then letting your child or teen pick a color and style they’ll be excited to wear.

Previously used life jackets should be carefully inspected for wear and tear. Look for broken buckles and zippers, frayed straps, or rips in the flotation casing. Don’t use a damaged life jacket. The Coast Guard also advises:

• Life jackets are especially important where currents or murky conditions create hazards.  They provide buoyancy for non-swimmers who wind up in the water unexpectedly, or for swimmers who become fatigued or hurt. Life jackets save lives.
• If a toe is in the lake, a life jacket goes on. That goes for confident swimmers and teens too. Statistics show an elevated drowning risk for teenagers due to peer pressure, alcohol use and other factors.
• Life jackets are not babysitters. An adult must always be present and watch when a child is in or near the water.
• Think of arm floaties, rafts and inflatable items as toys. “Arm floaties are not considered a lifesaving device, and the label will state that,” Walraven said. “They can easily become deflated and offer no head or trunk support to keep a child afloat.”

Children should continue to wear life jackets until they are away from the water’s edge or the dock. Walraven said children can easily get out of sight during distracted transition time, and adults might not hear a child falling off a dock or getting back into the water.

In 19 years of working in water safety, Lewis has unfortunately investigated several drownings, but none in the past two years at Lake Granbury. He credits improved public awareness by safety advocates, including the Lifeguard Your Child campaign.

Lewis points out that children under age 13 are required by law to wear USCG-approved life jackets while on a boat. One life jacket must be accessible for every boat passenger older than 12. He urges teenagers and adults to wear them because life jackets provide a layer of protection much like a seatbelt in a car.   

Lewis said parents should remain vigilant even when their child is wearing a life jacket. The child might remove the life jacket, drift too far from shore, or be injured by an underwater object.  A family gathering at the lake can turn into a tragedy in an instant, he said.  

“Parents cannot take their eyes off their kids in the water. Drowning is sudden and it’s silent. It’s not like you see on TV where they’re splashing and yelling for help.”

Life Jacket Loaner Stations

Cook Children’s has worked collaboratively with partners, and currently stocks 31 loaner life jacket stations in North Texas, allowing lake visitors to borrow life jackets for the day. Five more loaner stations are planned to open at Lavon Lake in June. Each loaner station supplies five sizes of USCG-approved life jackets -- two in each size -- for use by children and adults.

Jillian Mitchell, drowning prevention specialist at Cook Children’s, said the program continues to grow thanks to partners like Linbeck Construction, which teamed up with Cook Children’s to build 17 of the loaner stations. Partnerships are essential to the success of the program, Mitchell said.

“Without their dedication and passion for water safety, we would not be able to grow as we have,” she said. “Cook Children’s loaner jackets are restocked every year. By making life jackets accessible and paired with education on the station, we believe it makes an impactful difference that saves lives in area lakes, ponds and rivers.”

Lifeguard Your Child shares these videos from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to illustrate the proper fit for life jackets:   

• English: https://youtu.be/h55hX8Jimcs
• Spanish: https://youtu.be/bpyoiBEp9jI

The videos, which are part of the Lifeguard Your Child initiative, feature simulations of some of the most common drowning scenarios we see, including children falling into swimming pools unnoticed and teens drowning in open water.

“Too often we see drowning patients who have fallen into water either at a pool party or after a swimming event when everyone is packing up to leave,” said Sharon Evans, trauma injury prevention coordinator at Cook Children’s. “We’re really hoping these videos illustrate the importance of 100% supervision and layers of protection, such as pool fences and locks.”

Cook Children’s launched Lifeguard Your Child in 2015 after a record number of child drownings. Sadly, 2021 is on track to surpass recent years. Already this year, 35 children have been admitted to our hospital for drowning injuries. Two have died – both in May.

Of the 35 drownings this year, 22 occurred this month making this the worst June on record since 2016. The majority of the drownings we see occur in swimming pools, including the two recent deaths. With the holiday weekend ahead of us, our experts urge everyone to practice vigilance around water.

“Everyone is so eager to get back into a normal routine and have those gatherings as COVID-19 decreases,” said Dana Walraven, manager of community health outreach for the Center for Children’s Health, led by Cook Children’s. “We’re just hoping for a heightened sense of awareness. When people are so happy to get back together, there may be distractions.”

Walraven and Evans encourage adults to take turns as designated watchers, fully attentive and within arm’s reach of kids in the pool. Designated watchers can spot trouble before it turns into tragedy.

“They don’t talk, they don’t drink, they don’t look at their phones,” Evans said. “You have to have that person in charge of watching. That is your job for 10-15 minutes, then you pass it off.”

Highlights for drowning prevention include:

• Young children should know to never get in the water unless an adult is within reach and watching. Learn to swim and swim with a buddy.
• Teens should be alert for hazards lurking in murky lake water. No horseplay or risky stunts. Wear U.S. Coast Guard approved life jackets.
• Caregivers should create barriers to the pool, such as four-sided fencing. Don’t lose track of the kids during the transition from swimming to the next activity (a trip inside to the bathroom, loading the car, etc.).

The Lifeguard Your Child initiative has distributed 1,296 life jackets this year in drive-through events and through six loaner stations at area lakes. The program recommends only those life jackets approved by the U.S. Coast Guard. Proper fit is essential too.

For more information about steps to prevent drowning, go to www.lifeguardyourchild.org.

This is my friend Van.

Van is at my pool. Since all of us parents are now COVID-vaccinated, we are feeling more comfortable with outdoor playdates. And our new pool has been a great escape from the heat!

We parents have loved to see each other. Hanging out and listening to music and eating meals together has been so much fun. We’ve missed it so much.

But our new pool poses a risk that wasn’t there before during backyard playdates.

Over the weekend, five children were victim to drownings in our area, and were rushed to the Cook Children’s ER. Some went home. Others did not.

Look at Van’s wrist. He’s wearing a WATER WATCHER band.

This band says that, no matter how many people are in or around the pool, the wearer is in charge of watching the water. The lifeguard, if you will.

The band is traded out every 15-20 minutes. The person who wears it stands guard by the pool with no distractions.

You don’t have to have this fancy band – though it will be available at my office in Forest Park very soon to pick up, and other Cook Children’s PCP offices as well. You can use anything really – a lanyard, a fancy scrunchie, a jangly bracelet.

As long as the responsibility is assigned, and someone is always watching.

Let’s ENJOY these much-missed moments together! We have earned our time together again after last summer’s solitude.

But let’s be SAFE in and around the water – the statistics are sobering in our area lately and now is the time to lifeguard your child!

Water safety advocates urge parents to stay vigilant to protect their children over Memorial Day Weekend and throughout the summer as backyard pool parties start happening again.

People are excited to socialize in person as coronavirus restrictions ease up -- but they must still keep close watch on the kids in the swimming pool. Drownings can occur even with many adults present.

“Everyone is so eager to get back into a normal routine and have those gatherings as COVID-19 decreases,” said Dana Walraven, manager of community health outreach for the Center for Children’s Health, led by Cook Children’s. “We’re just hoping for a heightened sense of awareness. When people are so happy to get back together, there may be distractions.”

In 2019, prior to the pandemic, the number of drowning admissions at Cook Children’s hit 71. Seven of those patients died. By comparison in 2020, there were 48 drownings seen at the medical center, three fatal. Those statics include drownings in bathtubs and open water, such as lakes; the majority, however, occurred in swimming pools.

2020’s decline in drownings came as a happy surprise to those who work to prevent injuries and deaths due to accidents in the water. One possible explanation? Last summer’s social distancing kept many families and friends from meeting up in big groups. Those big gatherings tend to be occasions when everyone assumes someone else is supervising the swimmers.

Sharon Evans, trauma injury prevention coordinator at Cook Children’s, encourages adults to take turns as designated watchers, fully attentive and within arm’s reach of kids in the pool. Designated watchers can spot trouble before it turns into tragedy.

“They don’t talk, they don’t drink, they don’t look at their phones,” Evans said. “You have to have that person in charge of watching. That is your job for 10-15 minutes, then you pass it off.”

Evans said drowning cases typically ramp up starting on Memorial Day. The age group most susceptible to drowning in pools is 1- to 4-year-olds. Precautions should be taken as well for older kids, even if they’re strong swimmers.

Drownings can happen silently and swiftly. A submerged person might not attract attention or appear to be in danger.

“It’s not like it is in the movies where they’re thrashing around and yelling for help,” Evans said. “In real life it almost looks like they’re climbing a ladder underwater, and if they can get their head above water, they just get a breath.”

“Lifeguard Your Child,” a drowning prevention campaign created by Cook Children’s, aims to get the message out through a regional collaboration of partners from eight counties across North Texas. The coalition includes school districts, police and fire departments, pool builders and swim lesson providers such as the YMCA. “Lifeguard Your Child’ promotes safety strategies through its website, videos, online classes and social media.

“The biggest piece we’re trying to do is have parents think about water safety and drowning prevention all year long,’’ Walraven said.

Campaign partners came up with new methods to reach their audiences during the COVID lockdown. Those efforts included a shift to greater virtual education. And in spite of the pandemic, “Lifeguard Your Child” reached 6,950 adults and children with educational toolkits between October 2019 and September 2020.

Highlights for drowning prevention include:

• Young children should know to never get in the water unless an adult is within reach and watching. Learn to swim and swim with a buddy.
• Teens should be alert for hazards lurking in murky lake water. No horseplay or risky stunts. Wear U.S.C.G. approved life jackets.
• Caregivers should create barriers to the pool, such as four-sided fencing. Don’t lose track of the kids during the transition from swimming to the next activity (a trip inside to the bathroom, loading the car etc.). Hospital admissions data increasingly show that drownings tend to occur during these unplanned situations “when one child goes back for a toy, or a child wants to jump in one more time,” Walraven said.

In addition to the education component, “Lifeguard Your Child” has distributed 1,296 life jackets this year in drive-through events and through six loaner stations at area lakes. The program recommends only those life jackets approved by the U.S. Coast Guard. Proper fit is essential too.

For more information about steps to prevent drowning, go to www.lifeguardyourchild.org.

“It’s definitely a much better summer than we’ve seen in recent years,” said Sharon Evans, trauma injury prevention coordinator at Cook Children’s. “In a way, there may be a silver lining with COVID-19 that’s helping prevent many of the tragedies we’re used to seeing this time of the year.”

In June, Cook Children’s admitted eight patients for drowning injuries. Nine were treated in July. While the ideal number of drowning patients would be zero, it is encouraging to see fewer incidents, especially in light of the high volume from recent years.

June of 2015 marked a turning point for Cook Children’s on this issue. That month, emergency room staff saw nearly a child a day for drowning, 28 total. The numbers were so alarming, the hospital launched its first drowning prevention campaign, ‘Lifeguard Your Child.’

“I believe the message is starting to resonate with people,” said Dana Walraven, community health outreach manager for Cook Children’s. “The fact that the numbers are coming down is fantastic, especially with more children home, but we know we have to really continue the message.”

In the past five years, ‘Lifeguard Your Child’ has grown from a grassroots, social media campaign to a multi-pronged program with more than 70 partners across North Texas. So far this year, ‘Lifeguard Your Child’ partners have educated more than 3,500 children on water safety and distributed hundreds of life jackets. In addition, life jacket stations have been constructed for cities such as Cleburne, Alvarado, Weatherford, Grapevine and Flower Mound. These stations provide free life jackets for families to borrow at lakes.

“You’d think that during the pandemic that things just sort of stopped, but they really haven't,” said Walraven. “We’ve been enacting some really smart strategies to help force the numbers down.”

As in years past, hospital admissions data has been a main driver of the ‘Lifeguard Your Child’ campaign. One issue the data continues to point out is the importance of barriers around swimming pools. Out of the 17 cases seen in the past two months, eight occurred either during non-swim time (i.e. a child slipped outside of the home unnoticed) or when a child returned to a pool unsupervised after swim time had ended.

“Tracking the data has helped us understand the biggest threats for children around water,” Walraven said. “The majority of the drowning incidents we see are not during what we consider ‘planned swim time.’ Most are happening either when it's not a planned swim event, or when it's in transition, like packing up and leaving after a day at the pool.”

There is one specific difference this year from summers past, according to Evans. She says we’re seeing less drowning cases from large gatherings.

“We used to see many cases from backyard parties where families would get together, and often a child would slip under the water. There was a false sense of security with so many adults present, but too often there wasn’t a ‘water watcher’ or someone monitoring the water 100%,” Evans explained. “We’re seeing less of this now and I think that has to do with people not getting together as much due to COVID-19.”

Both Evans and Walraven say they’re thankful to see less children being injured around water and hope the trend continues.

“I'm just grateful to our partners for everything they are doing, from offering swim lessons to handing out life jackets,” said Walraven. “We're fortunate to live in an area where everyone is so concerned about the wellbeing of our community, and that's a really cool thing to be part of.”

There were only five juvenile drowning deaths in all of 2017, according to Tarrant County Public Health spokesman Kelly Hanes.

Read the full story here.

Friday afternoon, families affected by drowning tragedies joined arms at Cook Children’s with physicians as well as firefighters from Fort Worth and surrounding fire departments. At a news conference organized by the hospital, they were urging parents to practice vigilance around water and protect their children from drowning. Unfortunately, their calls came directly before one of the worst weekends for pediatric drownings in recent history.

Already in May, 18 children have been admitted to Cook Children’s for drowning-related injuries and three did not survive. That’s more than double the numbers we’ve seen in the past five years.

This is also the first May since at least 2012 with drowning fatalities recorded at Cook Children’s.

“People need to actively supervise their children when they are in or even near water. This means designating a specific person who’s responsibility it is to watch the water without distraction,” said Dr. Warmink. “Teaching your children the dangers of water, having them learn to swim and parents learning CPR are also worthwhile.”

To prevent children from drowning, Cook Children’s experts recommend:

• Install four-sided fences with self-latching gates around pools
• Wear life vests with U.S. Coast Guard-approved labels
• Take family CPR lessons
• Create and follow all pool rules
• Use pool door/child alarms
• Always have an non-distracted adult act as a Water Watcher
• Schedule water safety and swim lessons
• Update pool drains and cleaning systems

For more information on how to implement this advice, please visit Cook Children’s Water Safety website.

Lifeguard Your Child 

It's time to make Texas #1 in drowning prevention. Drowning is the leading cause of accidental death for children ages 1 to 4, and the second leading cause for kids 1-14 in Texas. But with your help, we can change that. Please join us in our drowning prevention effort. Together, we can Lifeguard Your Child around water.

Want to know how you can get involved or create an awareness campaign in your community? Contact Dana Walraven, Safe Kids Tarrant County coordinator at 682-885-1619 or email safe.kids@cookchildrens.org.

Families of drowning victims met together at Cook Children’s in Fort Worth Friday, trying to warn the community about a preventable death that often happens with no warning.

Watch the full story here. 

Despite the prevention efforts, the drowning numbers at Cook Children's remain high. Read full story here.

The accident left 1-year-old Whitaker Harris at Cook Children's Hospital last week. Doctors and nurses called his survival “a miracle.”

The Harris family is sharing their story hoping to prevent other families from facing the same near tragedy.

Read the full story here. 

"Even a child that might survive, sometimes can have deficits," she says.

According to information from Cook Children's, this month so far, 12 children were brought here for drowning. One didn't survive.

Read the full story here. 

Read the full story here.

February isn’t over and already four children have been treated for near-drowning accidents at Cook Children’s Emergency Department. All of these incidents occured in swimming pools.

“So often we think of the summer months as the time when we see drownings,” said Sharon Evans, Trauma Injury Prevention coordinator at Cook Children’s. “But as long as a child is around water, the threat is real for a child to drown. In Texas, we have 70 or 80 degree days during the winter and kids are outside playing around pools. If you have a pool, parents should be outside with their child. If not, the results can be tragic.”

The threat of drowning is a continuing concern well before summer begins. By the end of April 2016, 12 children were admitted for drowning injuries (9 in a pool) at Cook Children's, including two that were fatal (one pool death, one pond).

Even non-fatal, or near, drownings can be devastating for a child. Corwin Warmink, M.D., medical director of the Cook Children’s Emergency Department, says there’s a large amount of children who survive a drowning, but end up with catastrophic outcomes. The most effected parts of a near-drowning victim are the brain, lungs and kidneys. “The one that is most catastrophic and the one that will kill you is the brain,” Dr. Warmink said.

As a parent, Dr. Warmink stresses supervision of his own children in the pool. He calls it a hallmark of making sure children are safe. Half of all drownings occur within 25 feet of an adult.

“Children should never be in water without adults watching them,” he said. “If you have a toddler, that child shouldn't be in water without what we call touch supervision. You need to be in hand's length and it's not just pools. That includes bathtubs or any other container with water. I've seen kids drown in buckets. A child can drown in any water, even a few inches deep.”

The most important step a parent can make in making sure their child is safe around water is simply being present without distractions. Drowning is silent and quick, so a grownup should be watching children near water at all times and never leave, even for a brief moment.

“Active adult supervision and layers of protection such as door alarms and a fence can lower the risk for your child,” Dana Walraven, Community Outreach manager said. “The majority of these water-related incidents happen in the child’s own backyard pools and to children 4 years old and younger. Preventing pool drownings begins with adult supervision.”

Children are protected by layers of protection by using these safety techniques whenever children are around the pool:

• Always have adult supervision present when children are swimming or around pools.
• A fence with a locking gate should surround the pool.
• Install door alarms to alert adults when a child is entering the pool area.
• Require life jacket use for non-swimmers.
• Enroll children in swimming lessons.
• Parents and caregivers should undergo CPR training.

Other Resources:

• NRH Water Safety 365 Drowning Prevention Coalition
• Grownups be smart: Put down the phone at the pool
• 9 Ways to Protect Children From Drowning
• What Your Children Should Do If They See Someone Drowning
• Is Your Baby Ready For Swim Lessons?