Drowning doesn't look like drowning

It is so upsetting that there are just so many needless drownings of children and adults during the summer!  A child or teen may not be able or willing to seek help.  If we can recognize certain visible signs of distress, we may be able to become alerted and prevent a drowning situation. 

What are some signs?  Public pools have rest time for their swimmers. How can we tell if a child needs to get out of the water and rest?

We must always keep our eyes open to all activity in the pool.  Drownings occur most often when we are distracted.  In this drowning incident, the father went inside to dry off "for a minute" and when he returned to the pool area, his child was in the bottom of the pool!

Here is an article about how to recognize drowning:

Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning . So what does it look like?  

"Drowning is not the violent, splashing, call for help that most people expect. ... drowning (does not) looks like (what you see while) watching television. If you spend time on or near the water (hint: that’s all of us) then you should make sure that you and your crew knows what to look for whenever people enter the water. Until she cried a tearful, “Daddy,” she hadn’t made a sound.  Drowning is almost always a deceptively quiet event. The waving, splashing, and yelling that dramatic conditioning (television) prepares us to look for, is rarely seen in real life."

Here is a video about an ocean near drowning experience.

 Drowning Signs aren't like the movies 

"Look for these other signs of drowning when persons are in the water:

• Head low in the water, mouth at water level
• Head tilted back with mouth open
• Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus
• Eyes closed
• Hair over forehead or eyes
• Not using legs – Vertical
• Hyperventilating or gasping
• Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway
• Trying to roll over on the back
• Appear to be climbing an invisible ladder.

So if a crew member falls overboard and everything looks OK – don’t be too sure. Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don’t look like they’re drowning. They may just look like they are treading water and looking up at the deck. One way to be sure? Ask them, “Are you alright?” If they can answer at all – they probably are. If they return a blank stare, you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them. 

And parents – children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why."

Use the Learn to Swim with Miss Bea dvd to teach your child to grab the wall and be saved!