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Drowning highlights peril of pools
By MATTHEW WAITE, Times Staff Writer Randye DeGroat had her swimming suit on Saturday when she was found by family members in their backyard pool in Port Richey. The 2-year-old wasn't breathing, and no one knew how long she'd been there. Family members told sheriff's deputies that the last they knew, she was in her bedroom sleeping. They started CPR and paramedics continued it, but doctors couldn't save the little girl. Death by drowning is relatively rare in Florida and Pasco County. In a state where 15-million people are surrounded by water, there were 353 drownings in 2000, the latest year for which compiled statistics were available. In Pasco, with a population of about 345,000, there were three drownings in 2000. However, public health officials and safety advocates are quick to point out that drowning is the leading cause of death for children under 5 in Florida and other sun-baked states. And this time of year, when kids are home from school and the weather is hot, near-drowning calls to 911 centers go up. Pasco County Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Michael Ciccarello said the common element paramedics see in drowning calls is a distracted parent. He said phone calls and cooking dinner take a parents' attention away from a child and in moments they are gone. "You can't take your eyes off kids," Ciccarello said. Especially because children are naturally curious about water, he said. On Monday, a 3-year old child survived a close call when his mother found him on the bottom of their Palm Harbor home pool. According to Palm Harbor Fire Rescue District Chief Ron Gray, the boy's mother pulled him from the bottom of the pool and found he was breathing lightly. Eventually, after vomiting twice, the boy started breathing normally on his own. Gray said it only took a moment for the boy to escape his mother's supervision. "Supervision is the No. 1 thing to prevent a drowning," Gray said. "You can't leave kids alone for a minute." Ciccarello and dozens of child safety organizations suggest locking doors that lead to the pool with locks too high for children to reach. Also, install a barrier fence around the pool, a measure now required under state building codes for all new pools. The other recommended safety feature is a pool alarm. Ciccarello makes the same pitch about pool alarms as he does with smoke alarms. "We highly recommend them," he said. "They save lives." Ciccarello also recommended parents with pools take a CPR class. Prevention is better, he said, but parents should have the skills to handle an emergency. Pinellas sheriff's Sgt. Greg Tita said that if you live in the state of Florida, surrounded by water, you should teach your child to swim. "If you don't know how to swim, shame on you," Tita said, "but don't do that to your kid." -- Staff writer Rob Farley contributed to this report. Matthew Waite can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6247 or (800) 333-7505, ext. 6247. His e-mail address is waite@sptimes.com.
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From today's Pasco Times Editorial Letters |
