Toddler is saved from near-drowning in pool

It is the week's second rescue in Palm Harbor under similar circumstances.

By ED QUIOCO

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 27, 2001

PALM HARBOR -- For the second time this week, a toddler has slipped out of a house and nearly drowned in a backyard pool.

Thursday, 18-month-old Joseph McIlveen made his way out of the family's den and somehow got through a 2-foot-high fence between the lanai and the pool, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. His mother Jennifer, 45, who had left the den to answer the telephone in another room, found Joseph floating face down in the pool at 9:34 a.m.

A Palm Harbor Fire Rescue crew arrived about six minutes after dispatchers received a 911 call. When it arrived, Mrs. McIlveen was standing by the front door of the family's house at 3526 Shoreline Circle holding Joseph in her arms. Joseph had a pulse but was not breathing.

"It was surreal," said Palm Harbor fire rescue Lt. Dan Zinge. "This is definitely the calls we don't like because pediatric calls strike home."

Zinge and paramedic Michelle Brown used a breathing apparatus to force air into Joseph's lungs as firefighter Phil Ryan comforted Mrs. McIlveen, Zinge said. Three minutes later, Joseph started crying.

"It's absolutely music to your ears when you hear something like that, given the situation, because that means they are breathing," Zinge said.

Joseph was taken by helicopter to Bayfront Medical Center. He was listed in good condition Thursday afternoon.

On Tuesday, 15-month-old Taylor Barry nearly drowned in the backyard pool at the home of his mother's boyfriend in Palm Harbor. Taylor's mother Jessica told deputies that she had stepped outside for a moment to talk to her boyfriend when Taylor apparently slipped out an open pantry door into the yard.

Taylor was discharged Thursday afternoon from All Children's Hospital.

The two cases have the same ingredients as most cases of drownings and near drownings: Pool, child and momentary distraction.

"It only takes a split-second for a child to get away," said sheriff's Sgt. Greg Tita. "The main message is to realize that a pool is a magnet around small children and to be vigilant around them so you can account for their every moment."

Since January, eight children younger than 6 in Pinellas County have needed emergency help after falling into a backyard pool, said Len Ciecieznski, Pinellas County senior public information specialist and co-chair of the West Central Florida Drowning Prevention Coalition. In 2000, five children younger than 6 died from drowning.

Nationally, more than 1,000 children 14 and younger die from drowning every year, and 16,000 are sent to the hospital as a result of near-drownings.

In Pinellas, the number of children involved in near drownings and drownings increase as the summer approaches.

"Every year, we put out some public awareness as the water temperatures go up and people start putting bathing suits on," Tita said. "And every year, we have to suffer another unfortunate drowning of a child. Hopefully, we won't have any more, but I know we can almost plan on it."

Public awareness is one of the keys to keeping the drowning numbers down, rescue officials said. Parents need to know that pools are a "silent killer" because a child can drown in a pool without making any noise or splash, Ciecieznski said.

"We want to make people realize how dangerous a place a backyard swimming pool can be," Ciecieznski said.

But pools aren't the only places where children can drown. All it takes for a children to drown is an inch of water. That means the water in toilets, buckets and bathtubs also can be fatal for children.

Permanent brain damage can result in six to eight minutes of the brain being deprived of oxygen, said Chuck Kearns, Pinellas County Emergency Medical Services director.

Since Oct. 1, 2000, state law has required new residential swimming pools in Florida to be sold with safety devices aimed at preventing child drownings.

The law requires new pools to have one of four devices: a 4-foot-high barrier surrounding all sides of the pool, an approved pool cover, an alarm on all entrances to the pool area, or self-closing and self-locking devices on all entrances to the pool area.

The new law is named, in part, for Preston de Ibern, a Palm Harbor boy who suffered severe brain damage in 1995 after he fell into a pool owned by his mother's co-worker and almost drowned.

The pool safety law doesn't apply to the estimated 1-million residential pools that already exist in Florida. It does affect the 23,000 new pools that are built or sold each year.

"Everybody thinks it can't happen to them," Ciecieznski said. "But it can happen to them. It happens summer after summer."

Residents can get a safety inspection of their pools by calling the Palm Harbor Fire Rescue at (727) 787-5974 or the West Central Florida Drowning Prevention Coalition hotline at (727) 582-2074, which also has information about drowning.

- Staff writer Ed Quioco can be reached at (727) 445-4183 or at quioco@sptimes.com.

Pool safety tips

Never leave children alone in or near the pool.

Never assume someone else is watching your child. Designate a pool lifeguard at swimming parties and cookouts.

Make sure adults watching young children in the pool know CPR and can rescue a child.

Surround your swimming pool with a sturdy 5-foot fence.

Make sure the gates self-close and self-latch at a height children can't reach.

Keep rescue equipment and a telephone near the pool.

Avoid inflatable swimming aids such as "floaties." They are not a substitute for life vests.

Remove steps from above-ground pools and spas when not in use.

- Source: American Academy of Pediatrics and Florida Suncoast SAFE KIDS Coalition.

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