Drowning doesn't look drowning

[Darth Penguin]

with the start of the summer season I decided to share this here..

The new captain jumped from the deck, fully dressed, and sprinted through the water. A former lifeguard, he kept his eyes on his victim as he headed straight for the couple swimming between their anchored sportfisher and the beach. “I think he thinks you’re drowning,” the husband said to his wife. They had been splashing each other and she had screamed but now they were just standing, neck-deep on the sand bar. “We’re fine, what is he doing?” she asked, a little annoyed. “We’re fine!” the husband yelled, waving him off, but his captain kept swimming hard. ”Move!” he barked as he sprinted between the stunned owners. Directly behind them, not ten feet away, their nine-year-old daughter was drowning. Safely above the surface in the arms of the captain, she burst into tears, “Daddy!” How did this captain know – from fifty feet away – what the father couldn’t recognize from just ten? Drowning is not the violent, splashing, call for help that most people expect. The captain was trained to recognize drowning by experts and years of experience. The father, on the other hand, had learned what drowning looks like by 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. As a former Coast Guard rescue swimmer, I wasn’t surprised at all by this story. 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.

[abbasgirl]

That's really good information! I shared the link on my facebook page.
I was amazed at the stats of how many children drown while their parents are watching!

[Granger]

Very true! I used to lifeguard. All of my rescues were more of a quiet submersion. Sometimes hands fluttering near the top. Thanks for sharing. If you have kids remember to have them in life jackets around water too, not just when in it. I told my girls they could not walk on the pier this week because they did not have life jackets.

[Natalka]

Thanks - good information on the rest of the site, which gives good, clear explanations.

[walkonby]

wow, count me as one that did not know how quiet a person drowning is.

[Bronwen]

Thank you.

[Darth Penguin]

That's really good information! I shared the link on my facebook page.
I was amazed at the stats of how many children drown while their parents are watching!

That's what scared me too..I'm an indifferent to lousy swimmer and the fact it's so easy for my kids to drown means I hate taking them near water even with other people around.

eta I got it from FB in the first place but thougt it was important enough to share here...and other places on the interwebs.

[SharonMe]

Very important information. I didn't know this but it makes sense that a drowning person wouldn't be able to yell with the little bit of air they're able to catch. The video link showing it is helpful too.

[Angela273]

Thank you for the info.

[Lynn49]

Oh, dear, that's so frightening....our DD and her DH just purchased a new gate that restricts kids from entering their backyard where their pool is. It's to be installed tomorrow.
Their son and his friends on the street are able to open the gate that's there now...thank goodness he can swim at age 5, due to lessons, but even then.......I can't begin to think what could happen!
Thank you, Darth...I've passed the article to them....

[xox2010]

Very informative! Thank you for sharing!

[Lynn49]

The new 6' gate, fence went up today...new lock.....can only be opened by going thru the house (is what I'm told, altho' I haven't figured that one out, yet...)...but as secure as can be, next to a barbed-wire fortified brick wall......let's hope!

[abbasgirl]

That's good, Lynn! Do they have a way of securing the door from the inside of the house though so that their little guy can't slip out when they aren't watching?

[Lynn49]

Hi, Abbasgirl...so far the doors are too heavy to open and if he can, it might be the front one, but he knows better and is good at obeying rules. I think that soon they should begin utilizing the house alarm system we put in (they bought our home). It was a great help when my Mom had Alzheimer's: we knew we'd hear it at night if she ever wandered....

[abbasgirl]

That's good! By 5 they're usually pretty good anyway. I asked because there was a really sad case last year of a little guy getting into the pool through the house when his parents had their backs turned for a minute. Parents don't always think of it. He was just a toddler though.