Aquatic safety continues to be a priority this summer
From open water to a backyard pool, bodies of water can be a dangerous place to be around, especially for children.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drowning is the leading cause of accidental death among children aged one to four and the second leading cause of accidental death for children between the ages 5 and 14.
About 4,000 children die from unintentional drowning annually in the U.S., according to the American Red Cross.
A Red Cross news release from May describes drowning as quieter and quicker than often expected.
Additionally, 64% of Black, 45% of Hispanic or Latino and 40% of white children have “few to no swimming skills,” according to the organization’s data.
“That’s why we need to learn to swim and respect the water that you’re in,” said Dave Hutner, Cranberry Township recreation’s assistant director.
Drowning cases are more frequent during the summer, said Peter Adler, chief of emergency medicine at UPMC Passavant.
Not only that, but Adler added, “It’s unfortunately common in the pediatric population. The very young population — toddlers and such — find themselves in situations that they’re not prepared for.”
Preventing such cases can sometimes just be due to lack of adult supervision, said Adler, particularly for incidents at home which are more avoidable, like in swimming pools or hot tubs.
“A lot of times you see these drownings, a toddler has wandered off,” said Adler. “They find themselves in the pool, don’t know how to swim.
“Then they’re found, unfortunately, dead.”
Self-latching gates around swimming pools or life jackets, especially in open water, are not perfect, but can make a difference, Adler said.
For children who are old enough, basic swim lessons can be vital to being able handle bodies of water, he said.
“Any swim training at any age is going to be helpful for preventing drowning,” said Adler.
To address these concerns, Cranberry Township Waterpark joined the World’s Largest Swim Lessons in 2023.
The goal was simple: preventing drowning among children by teaching them what is safe and unsafe in water through a free swim lesson led by waterpark staff.
This year, 71 participants, ranging in age from 3- to 18-years old, had signed up for the 30-minute free session at the Cranberry Township Waterpark on June 25, but the lessons were canceled due to weather concerns. Hutner said the waterpark is coordinating with the Goldfish Swim School to reschedule the event.
The lessons are not designed to create athletes — though Hutner did not rule out that possibility — but to teach kids the basics of staying afloat, he said.
“We want to teach the kids how to swim well enough to at least save themselves,” said Hutner.
The lessons are in line with the water park’s larger mission of aquatic safety, he added.
In fact, they are part of the park’s larger Stand Up to Drowning campaign, which also included other features like free life-jackets for participants, rescue demonstrations on the deck earlier in the day of lessons and the lessons themselves, in which children observed lifeguards enact safety protocols and ask any questions they have.
“We want to make sure that safety is first,” he said. “Every rule we have — everything we do — is geared toward people being safe while having fun.”
At the waterpark, the number of participants for the program was originally restricted to 55. The final tally ended up exceeding that number as many kept signing up for the wait list, which Hutner said he appreciated.
“The more people we have, the better off we are,” she said.
Hutner said over the past four years since the lessons began in Cranberry, the feedback about swim lessons has been largely positive.
“We make it fun,” Hutner said of the lessons. “If you’re having fun, it’s not really work.”
The World’s Largest Swim Lesson campaign was developed in 2010 and now over 35,000 communities across the world participate.
