Keep Summertime Swimming Safe

While a swimming pool is a great place for families and friends to have summertime fun, dangers can lurk beneath its surface. In Port Arthur, Texas, a man called the police when he found an unusual intruder swimming in his pool: a five-foot-long alligator.

When the police and other local agencies refused to fish the gator out of the pool, the man turned to the owner of an alligator-focused theme park and restaurant in nearby Beaumont. The theme-park owner safely wrestled the alligator out of the pool.

Most swimming pool hazards aren’t nearly as obvious, but they can be just as dangerous. Fifty children have drowned already in Texas this year, and the summer has just begun. A recent drowning involved a toddler who walked out of his home and climbed the ladder to an aboveground pool. Although he was only gone for 10 minutes, he had drowned by the time he was found.

Safety experts say home swimming pools are especially dangerous for young children. Nearly a third of all fatalities among children from one to four years old are caused by drowning. For every child who dies from drowning, another four receive emergency care for submersion injuries. Those injuries can cause catastrophic injuries, including brain damage, resulting in long-term disabilities.

Simple Safety Steps to Follow for Pool Owners

Pool owners can take action to prevent injuries and death:

• Install a fence completely isolating the pool from your house and yard. The fence should be at least four feet high and have a self-latching gate with its latches out of the reach of young children.
• Remove pool toys such as floats and balls from the pool. These toys may encourage kids to enter the pool or lean over the pool while reaching for the toys, potentially causing them to fall in.
• Always have an adult watch while children swim. Don’t read, talk on the phone, consume alcohol, etc., while supervising kids. Many drownings occur because of inadequate supervision.
• Know how to swim and how to perform CPR. In the time it takes for paramedics to arrive, your CPR skills can make the difference in someone’s survival.
• Remember that hot tubs and bathtubs can also be a danger to children.

Gator Video

Click here to watch the video of the alligator being removed from the Port Arthur swimming pool. Port Arthur is about 90 miles east of Houston.