Children's Safety Zone

Glendale parents handed off their child to an ambulance while en route to the hospital after the child nearly drowned Monday night, Glendale Fire Department spokesmen Daniel Valenzuela said.

Three minutes after a 911 call was placed, firefighters arrived at a home near 48th Avenue and Carol Avenue to find that no one was home.

The parents of the child, who is approximately 2 years old, had left their home to rush their child to the hospital. On the way, they saw an ambulance, flagged it down and sent the child to a nearby hospital. The child was in critical condition late Monday, Valenzuela said.

The cause of the near drowning is still under investigation.

The Glendale Fire Department encourages families to follow the instructions of the 911 dispatcher and wait until firefighters arrive at the scene of such incidents, Valenzuela added.

TUCSON – A three-year-old who nearly drowned in a southeast-side pool has been flown to a nearby hospital in critical condition after emergency crews managed to restore his pulse.

At about 8:45 a.m. this morning, Rincon Valley Fire Department crews were dispatched to the 11000 block of South Cienega Dam Place, southeast of Tucson, according to RVFD Assistant Chief Lee Bucklin. Crews arrived at the house within five minutes to find the male victim’s father performing CPR on him.

RVFD crews were able to restore a pulse to the child within five minutes, and he was flown to a local hospital in critical condition, Bucklin says.

Based on indications at the scene, Bucklin says the child may have been in the pool for up to 10 minutes.

Bucklin says the pool was gated with a self-locking gate – crews at the scene are still unsure how the child was able to get into the pool.

Stay tuned to News 4 Tucson for updates.

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.