Children's Safety Zone

PHOENIX – A young boy was taken to the hospital Saturday after he was pulled from a lake at a south Phoenix park with no heartbeat.

Phoenix fire spokesman Scott McDonald said it appeared the 3-year-old was at a party with his family at Cesar Chavez Park near 35th Avenue and Baseline Road when he wandered away.

McDonald said the boy’s mother found him at the bottom of the lagoon in a shallow section.

Witnesses say he was not breathing and lifeless. He was pulled out of the water by his mother.

Bystanders gave the boy CPR at the scene. Gilbert Acosta was one of the first responders. He said he gave the 3-year-old mouth-to-mouth; blowing air into the boy’s lungs as another woman pumped the child’s chest to get his heart going.

“He had no pulse, he had nothing. He was gone,” Acosta said.

“Just before I started the CPR I did a quick prayer and said, God, give me the strength to help him.”

Acosta said five long minutes went by, and then the child began to cough, and start to breathe again, crying loudly. Acosta brought the child back to life.

An ambulance took the toddler to the hospital. He was released Sunday morning.

Acosta visited him at the hospital and said the little guy was acting like nothing even happened to him.

“His mom was just crying and hugging me saying, “You my angel. Thank you for what you did,” ” Acosta recalled. “I just happened to be at the right place at the right time.”

McDonald said the park was crowded and the family told him they lost track of the boy from the playground for up to five minutes.

The boy is expected to be fine.

PHOENIX – A 16-month-old boy has died after being pulled from a backyard pool Sunday afternoon.

According to Jorge Enriquez with the Phoenix Fire Department, the boy wandered in to the backyard of his home near 35th Avenue and McDowell.

The boy’s mother walked outside to take out the trash and found the boy floating at the top of the pool.

The mother got the boy out of the pool and a friend performed CPR.

The boy was taken to hospital where he later died.

Phoenix Police department spokesperson James Holmes is describing this as a “terrible tragedy, but accidental.”

Officials say the family did not have a lock or safety gate around the pool.

MESA, AZ (CBS5) –

ZERO drownings is the goal as Cardon Children’s Medical Center partners with firefighters throughout Arizona to launch the 2012 Walk for Water Safety campaign.

Several fire departments and safety organizations from around the state, from Yuma to Sun City West, are participating in the 2012 Walk for Water Safety to educate the community about drowning prevention and work towards a common goal of ZERO drowning’s in 2012. They will be targeting 60,000 homes to distribute information about drowning prevention.

State wide fire departments and other local safety organizations are seeking volunteers to pick up and distribute Water Safety information packets. They are asking volunteers to distribute the packets throughout their neighborhoods on March 31, 2012. Volunteers can pick up as many Water Safety packets as they would like.

Volunteers will be able to pick up the information packets at their local fire departments. There is a list of participating fire departments at http://www.bannerhealth.com/CardonChildrensWaterWalk.

MESA, Ariz. — It’s the official kick-off to swimming season in the Valley.

On Tuesday, more than 1,000 1st graders attended the 13th Annual Water Safety Day at Mesa Community College. The event was put on by Water Watchers at Phoenix Children’s Hospital with the support of several fire departments, volunteers and businesses.

The goal of the event was to teach children the importance of water safety. Child drownings are a big problem in Valley, and officials want to stop the preventable deaths. Last year, 17 children drowned in the valley. That number is down from 2010, which saw 20 drownings.

Water Watchers, a non-profit organization, continues to bring awareness and education about child drownings through direct children’s education, community educational efforts, media efforts and support of other drowning-prevention groups.

Water Watchers was started by Druann Letter whose son died in 1998. Baby Weston drowned in his family’s swimming pool while both of the parents were at home.

“We thought we had everything covered, but we didn’t. We didn’t watch him with eye-to-eye contact and that’s one of the most important layers of … water safety,” she said.

Trying to pull something positive from her family’s tragedy, Letter began Water Watchers because she said the drowning is a killer that knows no boundaries and a little bit of knowledge can keep families from going through what her family has experienced.

Letter also wants people to understand that drowning often steals kids silently. Children can slip under the water with little or no splashing sounds and they often do not have the chance to cry or yell for help.

Child-safety experts and Water Watchers stress the importance of what they call the ABCs of water safety, with adult supervision being the most important. There’s nothing that can substitute for eyes-on contact with children, especially in situations that can quickly turn tragic.

A – Adult supervision
When it comes to keeping kids safe around water, the most important thing is adult supervision. Adults should have eye-to-eye contact with kids at all times.

B – Barriers
While there is no substitute for adult supervision, fences and locking gates can go a long way in keeping kids out of the swimming pool.

C – Classes
Not only should children take swimming lessons (although lessons in no way replace supervision), adults should be trained in CPR in case the unthinkable should happen.

To learn more about the Phoenix Children’s Water Watchers program, call 602-546-1712 or visit PhoenixChildrens.com.

Cardon Children’s Medical Center has partnered with several community partners to bring you our 2012 Walk for Water Safety campaign.

We are uniting to educate the community about drowning prevention to work toward a common goal: ZERO drownings in 2012. We are targeting 60,000 homes to distribute information about drowning prevention.

How you can help

Communities throughout Arizona are seeking volunteers to pick up Water Safety information and distribute it throughout their neighborhoods on March 31, 2012. You can pick up as many as you like. For more information, contact a fire department below or talk to Injury Prevention Coordinator Tracey Fejt at (480) 412-3306.

Arizona Fire Departments: See list of participating fire departments and other organizations for a location near you:

• Apache Junction: Tina Gerola, (480) 982-4440
  565 N. Idaho Road, Apache Junction, AZ 85119
• Avondale: Sue Pistoia, (623) 333-6112
• Casa Grande
• Chandler: Brad Miller, (480) 782-2136
• Florence: Bill Bruin, (520) 868-7609
• Gilbert: Jean Machnicki, (480) 503-6325
• Glendale: Janet Boberg, jboberg@glendaleaz.com
• Goodyear: Tanja Tanner, (623) 882-7308
• Maricopa: Brad Pitassi, (520) 251-3888
• Mesa: Michele Long, (480) 644-2294
  Station 211, 2130 N. Horne, Mesa, AZ 85203
• Peoria: Tim Eiden, (623) 773-7919
• Phoenix
• Queen Creek: Ron Knight, ron.knight@queencreek.org
• San Tan Valley/Fountain Hills: Mark Cichocki, (480) 540-8802
• Scottsdale: Lori Schmidt (480) 312-1817
  Lou Witzeman Public Safety Building, 8401 E. Indian School Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85251
• Southwest Ambulance, a Rural/Metro Corporation Company: John Ford, john.ford@metro.com
• Sun City West: Hollie Sandeen, (623) 215-1058
• Tempe: (480) 858-7230
• Tucson SafeKids: (520) 324-2783, safekidstucson@tmcaz.com
• Yuma Safekids: Ryan Butcher, (928) 317-4667, ryan.butcher@yumacountyaz.gov