

Lessons also emphasize the importance of asking before getting in the water.
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Kelli Garcia, the director of aquatics for the YMCA of Central Florida, says swim lessons can teach children how to get to safety if they are in trouble without wearing themselves out. Even if parents teach their children to swim, formal lessons can focus on specific skills that research has proven will keep swimmers safe. Getting children - and adults - into high-quality swimming lessons.Using appropriate water-safety equipment including personal flotation devices and throwable rescue equipment.In a public swimming location, this role can be covered by a lifeguard - but watchers are just as important in home pools. “Not on your phone, not in another room, not eating,” Moore says. Designating a “water watcher” whose job is to pay strict attention where people, particularly children, are swimming.The other, most commonly recommended measures to prevent drowning include: Pool barriers are just one of several essential steps to save lives, says Brent Moore of the Orlando-based Children’s Safety Village - and current recommendations suggest a combination of at least two safety features for each pool. The fate of SB 84, which would have required lifeguards at designated swimming areas in state parks on holidays and times of historic peak usage, was even more humble - and more scorned. That bill ( SB 74/HB 1541) didn’t get a single hearing. This year, the Legislature had the chance to set sensible guidelines for child-care providers that included a requirement for parents to verify whether or not their child could swim - and requiring that non-swimming-proficient children wear flotation aids before child-care providers allow them to get the water. Yet every year, bills that would likely reduce the number of drowning deaths languish.

That starts with state leadership investing more resources into anti-drowning strategies. The big pictureĪs always, the biggest changes can save the most lives. Each death leaves behind grieving family members and rescue workers carrying the burden of what-ifs. Yet drownings keep occurring, sometimes within seconds for very young children who can drown in just a few inches of water. But taken on a case by case basis, it’s often easy to see how drowning could have been avoided the answers are often simple and cost minimal. Some might say that in a state with dozens of springs, thousands of miles of coastline, tens of thousands of rivers and lakes and more than 1.6 million swimming pools, a certain number of drowning deaths are inevitable. Measured against the state’s overall population, Florida almost always ranks in the top five states for drownings. So far this year, at least 36 Florida children have drowned - compared to 28 this time last year, the Sentinel’s Caroline Catherman reported last week. But for too many, that’s also where tragedy starts. For many Florida residents and visitors, their vision of summer fun begins at the water’s edge.
