Children's Safety Zone

MESA, Ariz. – Authorities say a young child had to be rescued after slipping under a pool fence in Mesa and getting into the water.

Mesa police say the approximately year-old girl was found in the pool at a home near Horne and 8th Avenue Sunday afternoon.

Before officers arrived a passing neighbor saw the mother of the girl holding the child near the street and yelling for help.

The neighbor reportedly has prior medical training and stopped to check the child and start CPR after he felt no pulse.

After several rescue breaths the child coughed up water and began crying.

She was turned over to Mesa fire rescue crews who inserted a small tube in the girl’s stomach and removed a small amount of pool water.

The girl was taken to a local hospital for treatment and is expected to be OK.

Police say the pool had a fence and was properly secured, but it appeared the child may have slipped underneath in an area where the family dogs may have dug in an attempt to get under.

MARICOPA, Ariz. – Pinal County Sheriff officials have released the names of two boys who drowned in a canal New Year’s Day.

Calib Love, 6, and Anthony Love, 10 both drowned in the C-Pack canal south of Maricopa.

Investigators say Calib, who’s autistic, was walking with his two brothers when he fell into the canal.

Anthony and his brother Emmanuel Stower, also 10, both jumped into the canal in an attempt to save him.

Emmanuel was the only boy to get out of the canal and try to get help.

The tragedy has left the neighborhood in shock.

“Couldn’t believe it, I could not believe it,” said Anne Mataalii. “I can imagine how that mother must feel.”

The canal is located on private property. No Trespassing signs are posted all over the canal.

Despite those signs, neighbors tell us that kids always hang out at the canal.

“Was there a parent with them, with the children, and there wasn’t, so how are you going to control them,” asked neighbor Bruce Jaynes. “They were there of their own free will and there was no one there to control them, so that’s what you’re looking at, and this is the end result, is the drowning.”

A friend of the boys’ family released a statement that read in part:

The Love Family has suffered a great tragedy this holiday weekend. They are deeply grieving as any family would after losing two of their precious children. All of their friends and family are coming together and requesting privacy in their time of need.

The drop in child-drowning deaths in Maricopa County in 2011 over the previous year has water-safety experts doing one thing: stepping up their pleas.

Sixteen children drowned in the county in 2011, compared with 20 in 2010. But the death of one child or one adult due to drowning is one too many, said Lori Schmidt, president of the Drowning Prevention Coalition of Arizona.

Tiffaney Isaacson, water-safety coordinator for Phoenix Children’s Hospital and president of the National Drowning Prevention Alliance, agrees.

“We don’t want the community to think we can stop. We always need that sense of urgency,” she said.

Firefighters, volunteers and those out to prevent drownings and near drownings are back this time of year, going door to door or holding water-safety workshops to spread the message of being careful around water.

That means being vigilant around bathtubs, pools, lakes and rivers.

It also means checking for water in landscape planters, buckets and even animal water dishes.

Those involved with the water-safety walks are handing out information for residents, hoping people will take the message to heart.

Although drowning incidents happen year-round, numbers are often highest from April through August.

Isaacson said that although drowning deaths of children in the county are down, near drownings are up. In 2010, there were 140 such incidents; last year, there were 180.

“And that’s not good,” she said.

As much as prevention efforts need to be made for children, she urges safety for teens and adults as well.

Schmidt, a public-education officer for Scottsdale, said that’s been a focus in her city, which had nine drownings in 2011: one teenager and eight adults.

On Saturday, Schmidt was in Scottsdale helping to organize a local Walk for Water Safety, a partnership between Valley fire departments and Cardon Children’s Medical Center in Mesa. The hospital has given tens of thousands of informational door hangers and wrist tags so communities across the state can distribute them to residents.

Tracey Fejt, injury-prevention coordinator at Cardon, said this year’s walk expanded to other parts of the state, including Tucson, Yuma and Casa Grande.

Schmidt said drowning prevention goes on throughout the year but residents may notice an increase during spring.

“We know that the end of March is when people start thinking it’s warm enough to get in (and swim), so we see a big push in prevention now through early April,” she said.

Having observed the careless actions of adults around water is something that drove Tina and Jan Bech out into the streets Saturday to talk to residents and leave door hangers about prevention.

“I can’t believe parents leave their young children unattended in pools and the hot tub,” said Tina, a volunteer with the Scottsdale Fire Department. “I’ve seen it several times.”

If a mama grizzly is formidable, then just call Cheyenne Arreola a nana grizzly.

Arreola knocked on doors last weekend to beg, plead and educate neighbors about the risks of child drowning.

Arreola, whose grandson suffered extensive brain injuries after nearly drowning at a summer camp in 2009, helped organize the city’s first annual citywide water walk with Safe Kids Tucson.

Roughly 75 volunteers knocked on doors throughout Pima County, reminding families to stay vigilant around water now that warmer weather is here. The volunteers estimated they connected with roughly 4,800 families, handing out tips to prevent child drowning. Tucson Medical Center is the lead agency for Safe Kids Tucson.

Volunteers handed out information promoting ABC’s of Water Safety, with A=Adults, B=Barriers and C=Classes.

Arreola said she not only rounded up volunteers for upcoming water safety events, but also spread the word to families who appreciated the information. “One family’s comment was that it was very timely because they were going to have a pool party that afternoon,” she said.

“It really is such an issue and it affects so many people.”

KVOA and KOLD both ran stories about the effort. To see the coverage, click the links below:
http://www.kvoa.com/news/volunteers-go-door-to-door-to-prevent-child-drownings/
http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/17304324/efforts-to-prevent-drowning-as-weather-gets-warmer

For more information about water safety, visit http://www.tmcaz.com/SafeKidsTucson or contact the Safe Kids coordinator, Yomaira Diaz, at SafeKidsTucson@tmcaz.com or 324-2959.

A 54-year-old woman has died in an apparent drowning in Chandler, police said.

The victim was identified Tuesday as Grace Hawley.

Chandler Police said Hawley’s husband called 911 around 5 p.m. Monday and told authorities his wife had drowned.

Emergency crews responded to the home near Kyrene and Ray and performed CPR. Hawley was pronounced dead at the scene.

The case is under investigation.