Drowning-prevention tips given to swim team

Chris Brynell, aquatics coordinator, coaches Jorja Watkins, 9, through a drowning scenario as she pulls in Felicity Leamon, 12, at the Conway Regional Health and Fitness Center pool. Brynell said he spends one day on water safety for each new Crocs swim team.
Chris Brynell, aquatics coordinator, coaches Jorja Watkins, 9, through a drowning scenario as she pulls in Felicity Leamon, 12, at the Conway Regional Health and Fitness Center pool. Brynell said he spends one day on water safety for each new Crocs swim team.

CONWAY — Jorja Watkins and Felicity Leamon, both of Conway, and Kelsey Demers of Greenbrier are all good swimmers, but now they know what to do if someone is drowning.

“You would either go get help, or if they’re next to [the side of the pool], go get something that floats and try to help,” 12-year-old Felicity said. She said she has been a good swimmer as long as she can remember. “My grandparents live on a lake,” she said.

The girls are members of the Conway Crocs, the fitness center’s competitive swim team. Their coach, Chris Brynell, said he spends a day discussing water safety with each new team.

Brynell, aquatics coordinator for the fitness center, said he talks to his team about what to do if they see someone drowning.

“We tell them not to get in, but to throw the flotation device to them.” For example, he said, that can be a swim noodle, a life jacket or a kickboard.

A person who is drowning doesn’t usually flail and shout like what’s portrayed in movies, Brynell said.

“Typically, there are not going to be any screams of help. They’re going to be gasping for air — usually spitting water back out,” he said. “Their head is going to be laid back, looking straight up. Their body is vertical. If they go vertical, that’s one of the signs [of drowning],” he said. “It honestly doesn’t take that long.” He said it takes only 15 to 30 seconds for a person to go down to the bottom of the pool.

Children ages 1 to 4 have the highest drowning rates, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Drowning is the No. 1 cause of deaths among that age group, higher than any other cause except birth defects. Drowning is the No. 2 cause of accidental death for children ages 15 and younger. Also, more than 700 children will drown this year in the United States, about half of them within 25 yards of a parent or other adult.

“A 1- to 4-year-old — all it takes for them is to jump off into an area they don’t know how deep it is,” Brynell said, pointing to the deep end of the pool in the fitness center. “They don’t have the skills to know what to do.” He said he’s seen children run and jump in before their parents can react. “Lifeguards have had to jump in,” he said.

Brynell said everyone on his staff is CPR-certified.

Even if a person doesn’t die, drowning victims can be affected for life. More than 50 percent of drowning victims treated in emergency departments require hospitalization or transfer for further care, according to the CDC. These nonfatal drowning injuries can cause severe brain damage that may result in long-term disabilities such as memory problems or learning disabilities or put a person in a “vegetative” state.

Brynell said people shouldn’t swim alone, although he said he’s been guilty of doing it. Brynell said that at a facility where he worked previously, “a military guy who swam laps all the time” had an unknown heart condition and drowned.

Adults might want to jump in a pool to get a child, but he said a struggling adult swimmer is likely to pull down the stronger swimmer.

One of the best things to do is to get children used to the water — confident, but not overconfident. Brynell said he sometimes sees children who are 5 or 6 years old at swimming lessons who are “terrified of the water” because it’s the first time they’ve experienced a pool.

“The younger they are and the more they can get acclimated to the water, the better,” he said.

Brynell had the three swim-team members get in the pool and take turns being the drowning victim while the others reached out with flotation devices to save the drowning one.

Angie Watkins watched her daughter pretend to be a drowning victim. “I’m not a good swimmer,” Watkins said, adding that she tried to practice swimming for a mini-triathlon. She said she’s glad that Jorja, as well as her 14-year-old daughter, Ivy, are confident in the water.

For more information on water safety and drowning, go to www.cdc.gov/safechild/drowning/index.html or www.redcross.org/prepare/disaster/water-safety.

Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.

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