Children's Safety Zone

PHOENIX – A 4-year-old Phoenix boy has drowned after being found face-down in a backyard pool.

The Arizona Republic reports Friday that the boy’s mother told firefighters that she started looking for him after he didn’t respond to her calls Thursday evening.

Earlier, he had been playing in the yard with his two older siblings.

The boy’s parents found him in the pool, and he was unresponsive when he was pulled out.

His mother started CPR and called 911.

Firefighters took him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Until recently, pediatricians did not encourage parents to engage their young children in water safety classes. However, there is now limited research that indicates when a child is introduced to water with formal lessons, coupled with a parent education component, parents are actually more vigilant about safety and less likely to believe their children are “drownproof.”

Out of this research is a new water safety prescription program called Water SMART Babies (Safety Measures and Rescue Techniques). It was developed by the Florida Water Safety Taskforce and adopted by the Florida Pediatric Society in 2010. The Drowning Prevention Coalition of Arizona began to pilot the program in Maricopa this summer and will be taking it countywide this fall. Plans are in the works to introduce the prescription program in Pima County in 2012 and statewide in 2013.

Through Water SMART Babies, pediatricians now have the perfect opportunity to discuss water safety with the parents of their 9- to 12-month old patients. Healthcare Providers write out a prescription for water safety classes. The parents are also given the Water SMART Babies handbook, which includes tips on home water safety, CPR information, and safety device options, such as pool fencing, door and pool alarms. As the child visits the pediatrician in subsequent months, healthcare providers follow up to make sure the family is getting their home equipped with the layers of protection and the child is participating in water safety lessons.

At www.watersmartbabies.com/az, the parents can find a number of CPR providers and organizations

BULLHEAD CITY – The National Park Service has identified a California man who drowned at Lake Mohave in northwestern Arizona. The Park Service says 49-year-old Matthew S. Santistevan of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., was visiting the lake with his wife and friends Sunday.

Santistevan was wading in the lake when friends noticed he was missing. They found him nonresponsive in approximately 6-10 feet of water.

Friends pulled Santistevan ashore, began CPR, and contacted the National Park Service for help.

Authorities say Santistevan was not wearing a life jacket.

The death is under investigation by the National Park Service. The Clark County, Nev., Medical Examiner is conducting an autopsy.

TEMPE, Ariz. — The parents of an 11-month-old near-drowning victim found in a Tempe hotel room face child abuse charges.

Summer Dawn Angelly, 23, and Jasen Anchondo, 28, are charged with one felony count each.

Police said the couple’s son was found lying in the bathtub under a running faucet by police and firefighters responding to a call Aug. 12 at the Days Inn on East Apache Boulevard.

“[The child] was found unresponsive when officers arrived,” Tempe Police Sergeant Stephen Carbajal said.

The child was taken to a hospital. He has now been released and it appears he will make a full recovery.

Police said Angelly had run to the motel office screaming about the boy and the motel manager had gone to the room with a cell phone. Although the father stated the child was “OK,” the manager noted the child did not appear to be breathing. She called 911.

Upon questioning, both Angelly and Anchondo changed their story of events. The infant had soiled his diaper and was placed in the tub because there were no more clean diapers. The water was left running and the infant was left alone. Both parents admitted to being aware that their son was in the tub, unsupervised.

Both Angelly and Anchondo were asleep in bed when the boy’s four-year-old sister awakened them, saying that her little brother was “asleep in the tub.”

Police called Child Protective Services, which took custody of the sister, her 2-year-old brother and a twin 11-month-old brother.

“Obviously children are very vulnerable and have the expectation that their parents are going to provide for their safety,” Carbajal said. “What happened that morning was very tragic but just negligent and very irresponsible.”

Police said the parents and four children moved to Tempe from California approximately eight weeks ago, and had been staying with a family member prior to moving into the motel.

PHOENIX – A Phoenix mom is thankful that a good Samaritan helped pull her daughter from the pool when she was found underwater.