Hey,

A number of years ago, when we were living and working in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, I was intimately involved in a child-drowning prevention program. I was blown away at the number of responses we made to these types of calls and how, in many respects, little to nothing was being done from an educational and prevention standpoint.

We developed a great program that continues today-one that measurably recued the incidents, with a very strong focus on drowning prevention for kids. The main focus was "eyes always on kids" a well as the establishment of physical barriers to water/pool etc where it would be an absolute hassle for an adult to reach--with the theory that if it was tough for an adult (several locks, hatches, doors etc) it would be impossible for a kid. Today, technology, alarms and motion detectors help the effort of responsible adults helping prevent drowning's of little kids.

Of the many resources we used to educate people on how quickly a child can end up in water, nothing (other than being on a scene) I had seen (until now) could have the impact of this video:

PLEASE WATCH THIS VIDEO

Trust me. This video does it.

VIDEO:

HERE ARE RELATED LINKS:

http://www.safekids.org/safetytips/field_age/big-kids-5%E2%80%939-years/field_risks/water-and-drowning?gclid=CMTxypG75b0CFchFMgodlyMATg 

http://www.drowningpreventionfoundation.org/ 

http://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/injuries-emergencies/Pages/Drowning.aspx 

http://ndpa.org/ 

With warmer weather coming, now is the time to blast this stuff all over your town via whatever means you have. While we may "love" responding to calls, this is the kind of run no firefighter or medic ever wants to turn out on.

Take Care. Be Careful. Pass It On.

BillyG

The Secret List 4/16/14-1300 Hours

www.FireFighterCloseCalls.com 

http://tinyurl.com/y855vmt

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