Children's Safety Zone

CPSC data show most child drownings occur in backyard pools; no entrapment deaths since 2008

WASHINGTON “ﾓA new report out today from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission  (CPSC)  reveals that children younger than age 5 represent more than 75 percent of all pool and spa submersion deaths and 78 percent of pool and spa submersion injuries in the United States involving children younger than 15 years of age. Government data also show that African-American and Hispanic children between the ages of 5 and 14 are at a higher risk of drowning.

“Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death for children between the ages of 1 and 4 and minority children drown in pools at an alarming rate,” said CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum. “The lives of countless children can be saved this summer.  Take simple safety steps today”ﾔteach all children to swim, put a fence around all pools, and always watch children in and around the water.” 

CPSC’s Pool Safely campaign is focusing its attention on populations most at risk of drowning: 

• Children between the ages of 1 and 3 represented 67 percent of reported fatalities and 64 percent of injuries.
• African American children between the ages of 5 and 19 are six times more likely to drown in pools than white and Hispanic children that age, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Data from USA Swimming indicate that 70 percent of African American children and 62 percent of Hispanic children cannot swim, making them more likely to drown.

The new CPSC Pool or Spa Submersions: Estimated Injuries and Reported Fatalities, 2013 Report shows annual averages of:

• 390 pool or spa-related drownings for children younger than 15 with 76 percent (296) of the victims being younger than 5;
• 5,100 pool or spa-related emergency department-treated submersion injuries for children younger than 15 with 78 percent (4,000) of the injured being younger than 5.

CPSC Chairman Tenenbaum presented the annual Submersion and Entrapment reports for 2013 at an event today at the William H. Rumsey Aquatic Center in Washington, D.C.’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. Chairman Tenenbaum was joined by U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.-23); Suzy DeFrancis, Red Cross Chief Public Affairs Officer, and Katey Taylor, mother of entrapment victim, Abbey Taylor. Jesus Aguirre, Director of the DC Department of Parks and Recreation, welcomed the group to the popular neighborhood pool.

“As we head into summer and families across the country are getting ready to take their kids to the pool, we must remind everyone how important it is to keep a careful watch on our children as they swim and ensure that their pools and spas have proper safety equipment,” said Rep. Wasserman Schultz.  “Working together, we can improve the safety of all pools and spas by increasing the use of layers of protection and promoting uninterrupted supervision to prevent child drowning and entrapment. With government programs like the CPSC’s Pool Safely, people can learn simple steps to take to save lives.”

“Learning how to swim saves lives,” said Suzy DeFrancis, Chief Public Affairs Officer for the American Red Cross. “The American Red Cross encourages all families to enroll in Learn-to-Swim programs by contacting your local pool.” Families can learn about Red Cross programs and find water safety tips by going to redcross.org.

New data from CPSC’s 2013 Submersion Report compile information on reported pool or spa-related drownings between 2008 and 2010 and estimated pool or spa-related injuries from 2010 through 2012 for children younger than 15. The estimated averages for the three-year periods represented show:

• Residential locations dominated incidents involving victims younger than 5 years of age; 85 percent of the fatalities occurred at residential pools or spas. About 50 percent of the injuries and 73 percent of the fatalities involving children younger than 15 years occurred at a residence.
• Of the reported pool fatalities for children younger than age 15, about 60 percent (231) occurred in in-ground pools; 15 percent (59) in above-ground pools, and nearly 10 percent (37) in portable pools.
• There were no reported entrapment fatalities for 2012. The last recorded fatality of a child due to suction entrapment was in 2007.  CPSC received seven reports of entrapment injury incidents during 2012.

For the complete reports see: Pool and Spa Submersions 2013 and Circulation/Suction Entrapments 2013. The years for reported injury and fatality statistics differ due to a lag in fatality reporting. 

Phoenix Children’s Hospital and the Phoenix Fire Department are already working to get kids ready for summer with reminders about staying safe around water.

More than 1,100 first-graders took a field trip to South Mountain Community College on Tuesday for the 14th Annual Water Day.

The kids have been learning about water safety in their classrooms and all the lessons were reaffirmed through rescue demonstrations, carnival games, tours of fire trucks and rescue boats, craft safety reminders, a singing firefighter show and a puppetry show.

The focus of Water Safety Day is to remind kids about the ABC’s of Water Safety. “A” is for adult supervision, “B” for barriers and “C” for classes “ﾔ CPR for adults and swimming classes for kids.

Already in 2013 the Phoenix Fire Department has seen seven water-related incidents, including four children. Three adults have died in Phoenix. One child has fatally drowned in Arizona.

Tiffany Isaacson, water safety coordinator for Phoenix Children’s Hospital, said 10 percent of kids involved in a water-related incident will never recover, meaning they will suffer some sort of permanent injury.

“When the brain is deprived of oxygen it sets off a domino effect in the body,” she said. “There are neurological problems, respiratory problems, digestive problems, skeletal, muscular, it’s a descending quality of life. It’s very hard.”

Isaacson said it takes two to four minutes to lose consciousness and four to six minutes for a brain injury.

Daniel Cheatham, of the Phoenix Fire Department, said what he sees most often is the ripple effect a drowning can cause. Of course lives are changed when a life is lost, but the brain injuries also have a lasting impact on families.

“There’s a huge impact on families if a child suffers brain damage,” he said. “A spouse has to stay home to take care of a child and the divorce rate goes sky high after a tragic incident such as this. The ripple effect is what we really see and it’s completely preventable.”

Now that the weather is warming up Phoenix Children’s Hospital and the Phoenix Fire Department want to remind residents to be safe around water.

“I give a lot of statistics because I want people to understand how big the problem is,” Isaacson said. “Every one of those is a life that’s lost. It’s a child who will never become a parent. Maybe they were going to become a doctor. Maybe they were going to find a cure for cancer. Maybe they were just going to be a wonderful friend to someone. We’re never going to know. It affects their families, friends, classmates. The reason for all the fire department support is when they run on a call of a child who was healthy 20 minutes ago and they can’t save them, it’s devastating for them and doctors and nurses. I have talked to all of these people and they have told me how hard it is for them.”

For more information on water safety, visit www.phoenixchildrens.com and search for “Water Safety” or call (602) 546-1712.

PHOENIX – A Valley family was very thankful to have their little girl safe in their arms on Christmas.

She slipped into a canal on Monday and one man’s quick thinking helped save her life.

An ABC15 crew got an exclusive interview with that good Samaritan.

“Just seeing how close she was to the edge, it just caught my eye and literally as I was thinking ‘wow she’s close,’ I saw her slip in,” Patrick Harkness said.

The canal walls are really steep and Harkness couldn’t reach the 8-year old, but he found the nearest thing that would work.

He grabbed a ladder from someone’s backyard.

It was just enough for the little girl to hold onto until rescuers arrived.

Together they formed a human chain and lifted her to safety.

Thinking back to the moment Harkness said, “He was able to grab her and bring her up and then I grabbed her from him and just kind of passed her up a little bit, then somebody behind me grabbed her and we got her out.”

Harkness says he was just in the right place at the right time, but for the family of the little girl it was a Christmas gift they’ll cherish for a lifetime.

MARICOPA, AZ – A 6-year-old boy has died after he was found submerged in the bathtub Christmas night.

Maricopa fire officials told ABC15 when the boy arrived at Cardon Children’s Medical Hospital in Mesa he was alive, but  not responsive and not breathing on his own.

This happened just before 6:30 p.m. at a two-story home in Maricopa. Officials said Wednesday the boy died shortly after 7 p.m.

We’re told family members were home and the 6-year-old was found in the tub. He had reportedly been feeling ill beforehand.

He wasn’t breathing and he didn’t have a pulse when paramedics arrived at the home.

The drowning is under investigation, however officials say there are no suspicious circumstances.

EL MIRAGE, AZ – Police say a 1-year-old boy is in critical condition after a near-drowning Thursday afternoon in El Mirage.

Kim Walden with El Mirage police said the boy was home with his grandmother in the backyard near Cactus and El Mirage roads.

The grandmother went into the house to check on something on the stove and came back outside to find the boy face down in the swimming pool, Walden said.

He had a pulse and was spitting up water, Walden said.

Air15 video showed crews airlifting the boy to a nearby hospital.

There was a stroller in the pool, but there’s no word on why that was there.

Walden said the circumstances surrounding this incident are under investigation.