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.

"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.

Get to know Justin Smith, M.D.

Justin Smith, M.D., is a pediatrician in Trophy Club  and the Medical Advisor for Digital Health for Cook Children's in Fort Worth, Texas. Dr. Smith is an experienced keynote speaker for a variety of topics including pediatric/parenting topics, healthcare social media and physician leadership. If you are interested in having Dr. Smith present to your conference or meeting, please contact him at thedocsmitty@cookchildrens.org.

He has an active community on both Facebook and Twitter as @TheDocSmitty and writes weekly for Cook Children's checkupnewsroom.com. He believes that strategic use of social media and technology by pediatricians to connect with families can deepen their relationship and provide a new level of convenience for both of their busy lifestyles. Dr. Smith’s innovative pediatric clinic, a pediatric clinic “designed by you,” open now. Click to learn more. To make an appointment, call 817-347-8100.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a statement recently encouraging pediatricians to talk with their families about the importance of daily, out-loud reading to your children (Literacy Promotion:  An Essential Component of Pediatric Primary Care Practice). Sometimes, when the AAP releases statements like this, that seem like common sense, I have to resist the urge to roll my eyes and tell myself, “Ok, thanks for stating the obvious.”

This one, while perhaps common sense, is very important. 

Why?

Despite the fact that I think most parents would agree with the importance of reading to your children, studies show that only about ½ of children are read to aloud every day.  In addition, reading to children sets the stage for their speech development which helps them do better in school. So what are the reasons for not reading to your child?

1. I don’t have time.

We aren’t asking that you read “War and Peace” every night with your 6 month old.  I’m hoping for about 5-10 minutes of reading (1-2 short books).  Ultimately, if you don’t have that much time then just read for the amount of time that you can, any amount is better than none.  Our kids really like to read during meal times as well, it tends to keep them eating and moving and keep their fighting about food to a minimum.  If you routinely watch TV during meals, it’s a much better alternative.

2. If they don’t understand, it doesn’t matter.

Reading to your children even before they are speaking is an important part of teaching them language.  Babies learn the sounds of language long before they know any words.  The number of words a child hears before they start kindergarten is a strong predictor of how well they will do in school. This is why it’s not only important to read to them, you should also spend time talking with them all throughout the day.

3. It is so boring.

This one I can really sympathize with. There are nights where I feel like I deserve an Oscar for my dramatic performances … but there are also nights where I drone on in monotone and doze off between pages. It is important to really engage your children as best you can, based upon their age. Have them help you count objects, letters or words on the page.  If it’s a book you’ve read 1000 times, read the wrong word and let them correct you (“Ohhhh … daaaadd, you’re so silly!”).  You can be selfish here.  Do whatever it takes to make it interesting for you, it will make it easier for you to do it and it’s likely that your child will enjoy it more as well.

4. They don’t even seem to enjoy it.

Let’s face it … sometimes they don’t even seem like they care. Your 12 month old is crying because he or she is tired but doesn’t want to go to bed. My 2 year old would rather chew on a book than have you read it.  My 5 year old would often rather be reading his own book than listening to me. But, I press on. Reading is not only beneficial for the language development, but studies show that it helps to develop more nurturing parent-child relationships.  Perhaps more importantly, is what it does for me. After a hard day at work, getting home to refereeing the boys fights for 2 hours, it’s nice to have some one-on-one time with each child to remember that I still like them.

5. No one ever told me it was important.

Well, you can’t use this one anymore can you?  Just in case you missed the message, it’s important.

Start by making a plan to read to your child every day for the next month.

Get a calendar out and mark off the days. 

I promise it will benefit your child for years to come.