With summer vacation approaching, health officials want to remind you to keep an eye on your children in the pool.
“It’s very easy to do…to get distracted…but your child’s life or injuries are not worth that,” said Sharon Evans, a trauma injury prevention coordinator at Cook Children’s Medical Center.
Texas is number one in the nation for child pool drownings.
Evans said they consider a drowning to mean anyone who has been injured within the water or taken water in their lungs. While a fatal drowning means death.
Evans said they have already seen nine drownings and one fatal drowning this year.
She wants to remind people these simple steps to take before hitting the pool.
First, be careful not to get distracted on your cell phone.
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“A lot of times parents may feel like they are watching their child but they may be looking at their cell phones, checking emails, but that is a big distraction,” Evans said.
Next, if you are with a group of parents at the pool, make sure to assign someone as the “Water Watcher.”
“Most of our drownings occur when there’s lots of adults around, and everybody kind of assumes somebody else is watching the children. Somebody has to be designated at all times to have their eyes on that child,” she said.
And that’s her biggest piece of advice: to always watch your children.
“By watching your child, lifeguarding your child, having them wear life vests and learn to swim, knowing CPR, and keeping your eyes on them at all times, we can prevent these injuries and deaths,” Evans said.
