Swimming Lessons are Essential!

I always loved the commercial that said, “if there was a puddle of water, 9 out of 10 children will walk right though it…the tenth will sit in it!” As cute as this is, the truth of it and the result can be devastating and life changing.
The following is an excerpt from a recent article in the New York Times, by Lisa Lewis: “Jenny Bennett, an emergency-room nurse and mother of four from Tomball, Texas, experienced it firsthand. On July 9, 2016, Bennett’s 18-month-old son, Jackson, exited the house through an unlocked doggie door and ended up face down in the shallow end of their backyard pool. “It was kind of a fluke that the dog door was left open and he was unknowingly unsupervised. We thought he was safe upstairs with his sisters playing,” she said. “It was about five minutes.”
Jackson’s skin was still warm and pink when she found him. “As a nurse, I had some hope,” she said. She pulled him from the water and realized he wasn’t responsive, then immediately started CPR and rescue breathing.
He was first taken to the hospital where she works. “There I was, surrounded by my co-workers,” she said, “as they tried to resuscitate my son.” Jackson was then flown to another hospital; after four days on life support, he was declared brain-dead.”
Jenny now has a non-profit – Swim Safe Forever – dedicated to educating the public about drowning and water safety, and how quickly and silently a drowning can happen. People are often shocked to find out that drowning is the #1 Cause of accidental death for children 1-4 years old, and the second leading cause for children 5-9.
Shortly after the stay-at-home order was issued, not just in California, but in other states as well, there was a noticeable increase in drowning rates among our children. Other states with high drowning rates captured those numbers immediately and set-in motion the deeming of swim lessons as essential. In just a few months after COVID was announced, Texas, Florida and Arizona saw a spike to well over the normal annual drowning totals. The state of California still has not collected our numbers, but the California Coalition for Children’s Safety & Health (the same organization that changed the bike helmet laws in California) had direct lines of communication to many of the state’s emergency room directors and saw a more than double uptick as well. They were instrumental in working with the California Department of Health to ensure that swimming lessons were a priority to help parents protect their children, especially when multi-tasking from home with work, caring for multiple children & super-vising schoolwork as well.
Academy Swim Club has implemented all CDC recommendations and more, for building and pool safety standards to keep our environment safe. Our staff have followed strict protocol for everyone’s safety and hold our patrons to the same standards. Chlorine has been shown to inactivate the COVID virus, preventing its spread, and all teaching tools are given extra doses of disinfection between uses. Our teachers wear face shields and have been tested often. Every hour we are open, we have a Safety Representative staff member assigned to disinfecting and enforcing safety policies. We do further cleaning and disinfecting every morning before we open. Although we have had some reports from parents who were in our facility and later received positive test results, we have not had one case trace back to our building or staff. Our first priority is, and always has been, the safety of our patrons and employees. Beyond that, when our students walk in the door, their beaming smiles are easy to see, even be-yond the face masks they are wearing!
New York Times article by Lisa Lewis, published 5/22/20
For further information about swim lesson or water safety, please contact Academy Swim Club through their website at www.Swim4Life.com or call them at 661-702-8585.