Children's Safety Zone

It can be a quiet killer: A small child wanders out of sight and falls into water — perhaps in a backyard swimming pool, a bathtub or a lake — and slips under the surface. Within minutes, he or she can be severely brain damaged or dead.

“Little kids don’t know what drowning is,” said Tim Szymanski, a member of the Southern Nevada Child Drowning Prevention Coalition. “They slide into water. They’re not going to splash, yell for help.”

Last year, Clark County’s drowning death rate for children 4 years old and younger fell to a new low of 2.05 per 100,000 residents in that age bracket, according to data from the Southern Nevada Health District. Even so, four children younger than 15 died from drowning in Clark County in 2013. Three of the victims were 4 years old or younger. Thirty-six other children 14 and under were rescued and survived after being found underwater last year, according to county data.

Drowning can occur in any body of water, big or small, but backyard swimming pools always pose a great risk. And Clark County certainly has its share — 105,482 pools at single-family homes, to be exact.

In many child-drowning cases, a toy in or around a pool enticed the victim to the area. Then the child fell into the water while trying to retrieve it, Szymanski said. The scenario highlights the need for all objects to be removed from a pool’s vicinity. With pool season here, authorities hope residents remain vigilant when it comes to water safety, so this year’s drowning rate can drop even lower.

“Drownings occur mostly during the warm weather months, but they happen during all of the months here,” Szymanski said.

via ‘Kids don’t know what drowning is’ – Las Vegas Sun News.

Authorities say a 3-year-old girl is in serious condition after being pulled from a hot tub in North Phoenix.

Capt. Jonathan Jacobs, spokesman for the Phoenix Fire Department, said the incident happened before 3 p.m. Saturday at an apartment complex near 33rd and Peoria avenues.

Jacobs said the girl was transported to a local hospital in serious condition.

It was not immediately known how long the girl was in the water.

Officials say there were about 10 children in the hot tub. Several people were gathered at the complex pool for a child’s birthday party.

Sara Gomez told ABC15 she performed CPR on the little girl.

“I’ve never been in that situation,” said Gomez. “When you see something like that, you just go, you get in action, you do what you got to do.”

Child drowning in the Valley is happening way too often, and the Chandler Fire Department is on a mission to make it stop.

“That second that you’re not looking, a child falls in the pool,” said Capt. Jason White with Chandler Fire. “The idea is to make an impact, to stop the infant drownings that we’re seeing in particular every year.”

Next week, firefighters and a team of volunteers will be walking door to door handing out flyers and bringing awareness to this critical issue. If you’d like to volunteer for the drowning prevention walk, meet at the Desert Oasis Aquatic Center at 9 a.m. on Saturday, March 29.

via FD: 3-year-old girl in serious condition after being pulled from Phoenix hot tub – ABC15 Arizona.

Fire crews and paramedics responded to a near drowning call in Avondale Tuesday night.

It happened shortly after 9:00 p.m. near Buckeye and Dysart Roads.

Fire officials say a one-year-old boy was pulled from a bathtub. CPR was performed on the child, and he was reported to be crying, alert and breathing on his own.

The child was transported to Phoenix Children’s Hospital. He was said to be in stable condition.

It’s not clear how long the boy was under the water, or how many adults were present at the home.

via Near drowning in Avondale; boy pulled from tub | azfamily.com Phoenix.

Authorities in Mesa located the body of an 11-year-old boy with special needs who has been missing from the area of Ray and Power roads since Saturday morning.

Mesa police spokesman Lt. Wessing said the boy – Caruel J. Udal, also known as C.J., who has Down syndrome – was last seen just before 9 a.m. as he went to walk his dog near the Arizona Canal in the area south of the SanTan freeway along Power Road.

Family members said that they heard their dog barking loudly at around 9 a.m. from the area of the canal just behind their residential property.

Wessing said the boy’s dog was found in the canal, but there was no sign of the child.

A search effort by officers from Mesa, Gilbert and the sheriff’s office was conducted.

Shortly after 1 p.m. a Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office dive team located Udal’s body in the canal close to where his dog was found.

Police said it appears that Udal and his dog were able to access the canal through an opening in the fencing surrounding their property.

The family sent CBS 5 News the following statement late Saturday afternoon.

“We are heartbroken at the loss of our most amazing and talented son, C.J. Udall. His life ended too abruptly but we know that he has returned to his Heavenly Father and is with his grandpa and namesake Carvel Jackson.

“We ask those moved with compassion at our loss to consider making a donation to a fund that has been set up to honor the memory of C.J. The fund will benefit the organizations that our son loved and that profoundly touched his life.

“Donations may be made to the C.J. Udall Memorial Fund at any Wells Fargo Bank Branch.”

via Mesa boy slips through fence, drowns in canal.

Water safety incidents in Phoenix dropped each of the past two years, thanks in part to a concerted effort to educate the community. But a toddler drowned in a backyard pool last week, kick starting the awareness effort once again.

Phoenix firefighters, volunteers and city leaders hit a northeast Phoenix neighborhood Tuesday morning handing out information about drowning prevention.

A 3-year-old boy drowned in a backyard swimming pool Sunday near 64th Street and Camelback Road. The pool did not have a fence and the child, who was not breathing and did not have a pulse when firefighters arrived, was in the water for more than 10 minutes, according to Phoenix Fire Department officials.

Newer homes are required to have barriers around pools. But there is not a requirement in older neighborhoods such as the one where the child drowned Sunday.

It is important for residents to have awareness about how to prevent drownings, said Kelly Lieberman, Phoenix Fire Department spokesman.

Lieberman was among the group that handed out water safety information as part of Tuesday’s W.A.V.E. walk — water, awareness, vigilance, education.

The group reached 565 homes in less than an hour.

Sunday’s incident was the first water-related child fatality this year, after two adult deaths resulted from eight water-related incidents, according to the Phoenix Fire Department.

The total water-related incidents in Phoenix dropped from a five-year high of 86 in 2011 to 69 in 2012 and to 32 last year, according Phoenix Fire Department statistics. Water-related deaths, however, rose from 17 in 2012 to 20 a year ago.

The last Ahwatukee drowning was in August 2012 in a backyard swimming pool.

Swimming pool incidents were by far the top cause of drowning deaths the last year five years, according to the same statistics, followed by bathtubs.

Supervision is always the best preventative, officials say, but teaching a child to swim is valuable as well. Swim lessons are available at the Ahwatukee Community Swim and Tennis Center, the Ahwatukee Foothills Family YMCA and the city’s Pecos Pool, among other places.

For a list of water safety tips, visit the Drowning Prevention Coalition of Arizona’s website, preventdrownings.org.

via First 2014 water-related child fatality kick starts awareness effort – Ahwatukee Foothills News: News.