Children's Safety Zone

A group of Queen Creek boys put their Boy Scout training to use when one of their own suffered a seizure in a family swimming pool and nearly drowned.

Just a few days after Warren McGregor, 12, of Troop 303, had finished brushing up on his cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills in preparation for teaching a group of younger scouts, the boys returned from a campout in the mountains and decided to go swimming in the McGregor’s pool. It was a Saturday like many others and the Scouts, aged 10 to 13, were all experienced swimmers.

As Warren crossed the pool , he noticed his friend, David Lee, 13, face down at the bottom of the pool. Warren dove down and turned David over.

“I noticed (David) was not moving, his eyes were staring right through me and his lips were a dark shade of blue,” Warren said. “The first thing I thought was that he was dead. I pulled him to the side of the pool and started doing CPR on him. I didn’t want to lose my friend.”

Several other Scouts helped Warren pull David out of the pool. Soon after Warren started to administer CPR to David, he started coughing up water and breathing, heavily at first. By then, the Queen Creek and Gilbert fire departments’ paramedics had arrived in response to the 911 call placed by Warren’s mother Kelly.

The paramedics took David to Cardon Children’s Medical Center in Mesa, where it was determined he was fine, Elizabeth Lee, David’s mother, said.

At last week’s Town Council meeting, Queen Creek Mayor Gail Barney recognized Warren McGregor, and fellow Scouts Kyle “Chaz” Welch, Dylan Lambert and Jayden Meeks, who also helped with the rescue, as Queen Creek Heroes for their quick action in the April 21 incident.

David had suffered a seizure in the swimming pool, Elizabeth Lee said.

A person experiencing a seizure is unable to control his body, said Dr. Gary Smith, administrative medical director for the Queen Creek Fire Department.

Elizabeth Lee said David had his first seizure in February and underwent a battery of neurological tests afterward. The test results were normal.

“It looked like a one-time event … No one expected this,” Elizabeth Lee said.

The quick action of Warren and the other Scouts saved David’s life, Smith said. In a matter of seconds, David could have inhaled water and drowned.

“These boys are heroes in my mind,” Smith said.

Warren said he learned when faced with an emergency, “you don’t have time to look (the information) up – it’s instinct. I was lucky enough to have my Dad as a scoutmaster to train me.”

David said the event taught him to pay more attention to what he was learning in Scouts.

A year ago, the boys had all earned their First Aid Merit Badge, which included CPR, but only Warren had chosen to brush up on the skills to teach other Scouts. And Warren was the only boy to swim to the other end of the pool where David was found.

“A series of miracles were in place to save David,” Kelly said.

Warren’s father, Wade, said scouting is as relevant today as it has always been.

“Being prepared is the Scout motto,” he said.

“Scouting teaches boys to think for themselves and gives them the skills to understand what needs to be done.”

Months after her 4-year-old son’s drowning last July, Brooke Thomas has reviewed every possible detail from the afternoon of July 22.

It had been a happy day, her oldest son’s seventh birthday, spent playing in a neighbor’s pool for nearly three hours. When it came time to leave, Brooke turned to put away her children’s floaties and other things. When she looked back, her younger son, Charles “Maverick,” was nowhere to be seen.

In the frantic moments that she and others searched the house and pool for Maverick, they had somehow missed seeing him at the bottom of the pool, obstructed by shadows from nearby palm trees. A waterfall feature was another distraction. The bottom of the pool was covered with tiles, which had turned the water from clear to something of a deep-colored lagoon by afternoon.

Furthermore, Maverick’s swim trunks — navy blue with a Hawaiian pattern — had helped camouflage him underwater. By the time someone spotted him from the other side of the pool, it was too late.

Since the drowning, Thomas has returned to the pool to take pictures of the water as it shifted colors later in the afternoon. What if Maverick, who had taken some recreational swim classes, had been taught to float on his back or tread water? The incident was nothing like she had seen of fictional drownings on television: Maverick had not flailed or screamed. They believe he must have been reaching for a toy, then silently slipped beneath the water’s surface.

Although Maverick died in the summer, the Thomas family wants to deliver a message: A child can drown any time of the year.

“Any measure we could have taken, we took. And yet it still happened,” Thomas said. “If it can happen to us, it can happen to anybody.”
A year-round hazard

A high risk of drowning exists year-round in Arizona, said Lori Schmidt, president of the Drowning Prevention Coalition of Arizona. But there tend to be different reasons between summer and winter.

“In the summer months, it tends to be a supervision issue,” Schmidt said. Often, parents or other adults are distracted and children are left near the water without “eye-to-eye supervision.”

In the winter months, drownings tend to be the result of barrier issues. The pool may not be protected by a fence or a cover, or existing ones are in disrepair. Children, ever drawn to small spaces, have been known to crawl through doggy doors.

“We’re not really expecting kids in the water,” Schmidt said. “We had no inkling that the child would even be near the water.”

The winter months also are when visitors flock to Arizona, descending upon homes that may not be properly equipped for young children. What Valley residents consider to be sweater weather could be a perfect poolside day for guests.

“People come visiting and think, ‘Oh, it’s so beautiful here.’ They don’t have any problems running around in flip-flops and sundresses,” Schmidt said. “Especially kids. Kids don’t really care if it’s cold or not. They’re getting in the water.”

Pools are not the only source of danger, she added. Hot tubs, canals, bathtubs and just about anything that can hold rainwater around the house should be monitored, fenced or emptied.

“Anything that holds an inch of water can be a water hazard,” she said.
Numbers, prevention

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, drownings are the leading cause of injury and death for children ages 1 to 4.

Last year, Maricopa County had 49 drownings. Of those deaths, 16 were of children, and the majority occurred by May.

“We had a horrible spring,” Schmidt said. “We were on pace to double, if not triple, our drowning deaths (in Maricopa County).”

In 2010, there were 48 drownings in Maricopa County; 20 of those were children. Although child drownings decreased, the total number of “water-related incidents,” including near drownings, increased last year to 179 from 140.

“We can prevent drowning,” Schmidt said. “You’ve got to protect your families no matter what time of year.”

Thomas said her devoutly religious family can move on by using their experience to help prevent other families from suffering the same grief. They founded the Maverick Movement, a group that aims to raise awareness about water safety.

“It would be really easy for me to be done with the pool, to be an overbearing mom,” Thomas said.

On the contrary, the rest of her family, including her two other children, returned to the pool within days.

“That was important to us, because we wanted them to see that you can have fun in the water, that it’s good for you and good exercise,” she said. “We wanted them to remember the fun memories of that day.”

The memories include the way Maverick would jump into her arms in the pool and snuggle up to her face until their noses were touching.

“I love you, Mommy,” he would say.

Without missing a beat, she would respond: “I love you, too, Maverick.”

Caleb Teodorescu slept in his hospital room, surrounded by no fewer than a dozen teddy bears, balloons and a toy truck taller than his 2-year-old self.

“He looks remarkable considering what happened to him,” said Dr. Budi Wiryawan, a pediatric intensivist at Banner Thunderbird Medical Center in Glendale.

On Nov. 25, Caleb had been rushed to the hospital in critical condition, not breathing and without a discernible pulse. He had been considered dead for about half an hour, after apparently riding his scooter into the family pool.

Little more than a week later, doctors feel confident Caleb will be able to return home soon, after making an astounding recovery. “It’s really a miracle,” Wiryawan said.

The day after Thanksgiving, Mihaela Teodorescu, 32, had gone to the bathroom while her four children played in the kitchen. She remembered listening to their chatter and noticing the sounds of her youngest had disappeared.

Returning, she asked her kids, “Where’s Caleb?” Her 6-year-old son reached the back door first. Mom, I think I see something in the pool.

Caleb was eight feet underwater, face down. Her oldest daughter dialed 911 as Mihaela dove in after Caleb.

A neighbor administered CPR, but it wasn’t until Caleb arrived at the hospital 28 minutes later that doctors restored his breathing and heartbeat.

Despite the turnaround, Mihaela could sense that the doctors were being cautious. Recovery from this type of trauma, if at all, could take 6 to 12 months, they told her. He could remain sedated for up to a month.

Over the next several days, gifts and prayers poured in for the Teodorescus from their friends, their church, even their native Romania. Caleb responded positively to diagnostic tests the doctors gave him. To their surprise, his heart, lungs and brain seemed to be doing fine.

He was taken off of his ventilator and began to breathe on his own.

Exactly one week after the accident, Caleb looked up at his father, grabbed his face, and spoke again for the first time since the incident.

“Nose,” he said.

On Saturday, doctors pulled Caleb off of intravenous nutrition. He walked again and even rode a small tricycle through the hospital halls. He spent the rest of the day napping and squirming in his mother’s arms, babbling and smiling as she held him.

Doctors are confident that, by Monday, Caleb will be able to go home, where the Teodorescus are installing a pool cover.

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.

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.