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| Children from around the valley participated in the sixth annual Water Safety Day. The program is designed to make families more aware of the dangers of water. |
ABC’s prevent drowning
Marc Godinez
Mesa Legendd
Water Safety Day is an extensive learning program designed to educate and make families aware of Maricopa County’s child drowning problem, which is among the highest in the nation.
The sixth annual event, which is sponsored by Toyota and SRP, was founded by Carol Achs, a local grandmother whose grandson drowned.
Weston Letter, who was three-and-a-half, was among the seven children who’s lives were taken by drowning in 1998.
More than 1,200 children from more than five communities, such as Chandler, Phoenix, Awhatukee, Guadalupe, and Laveen, attended the event.
Each will receive a “one-of-a-kind lesson in drowning prevention” at South Mountain Community College, which was the host for this years event.
“Child drowning is a lightning-fast killer,” within two minutes, the child will loose consciousness, by four to six minutes, brain damage will occur, and with every passing minute, the possibility of death increases dramatically.
“We’re teaching children about water safety or what we like to call, the ABC’s,” says Aches.
The ABC’s were set up as an easy way for children and adults to remember the three key components to keeping children safe.
A is for Adult supervision, B is for Barriers needed to keep kids away from pools, and C is for CPR classes adults need in order to know how to save lives.
Recent drowning statistics provided by the Phoenix Fire Department show that since 1994, drowning incidents have increased by 64 percent, fluctuating year-to-year.
The family and volunteers who make Water Safety Day possible want citizens to realize that whether vacationing on a beach, visiting relatives or friends who own pools, tubing down the river or boating on a lake, the necessary precautions must be taken whenever water and children are present.
For more information about water safety or Water Watchers at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, visit www.phoenixchildrenshospital.com and search “Water Watchers.”
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