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1-year-old falls in pool

By news-press.com staff Originally posted on July 21, 2006

A 1-year-old Cape Coral boy slid open a glass door and fell into a pool at about 8:30 a.m. today at 1505 S.E. Fifth Court, emergency officials said.

Paramedics took the child to Cape Coral Hospital, where the toddler's condition was not immediately known. He was transferred to The Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida, which has a pediatric emergency and pediatric intensive care facilities. The children's hospital is part of the Health Park Medical Center campus.

Cape Coral police are investigating.


Child Drowns In Port Charlotte Pool

May 29, 2006

By Barry Miller

Port Charlotte -
A Memorial Day weekend tragedy has the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office investigating the death of the two-year old boy from Port Charlotte.

"Full of energy. You know you call him, he would come to you running," said neighbor Maggie Velez. "Happy baby. he was just happy."

According to reporters, the toddler fell and drown in his family's pool on Ryals Street Saturday evening. Unlike other pools in the neighborhood, the child's pool is not enclosed, but fencing materials lay in a trailer in the family's driveway.

Family members grieved outside of the home. They did not want to speak to WINK News on camera, but said that the death was a horrible accident.

Neighbors and other parents living on the street say the loss of any child breaks their hearts.

"I was devastated. I can't begin to imagine what a parent would go through when they get this bad news about a child. Even if it's not your own child. Every child is your child," said Velez.

With tragedy, comes awareness. With the summer heat, and children out of school, parents need to make sure they know where their children are at all times.

"When my grandkids come over, they don't go outside unless I'm outside. I have a pool so if I'm out there, I'm out there with them," said Velez. "It doesn't take long for a tragedy to happen."

Keep Your Pool Safe with a Pool Enclosure

Don’t let your child or a neighbor’s child become a drowning story on the news and make sure you have a pool enclosure or a pool fence. The absolute worst-case scenario is that someone gets hurt in your pool. You will never look at another pool the same. Once the regret sets in, it is already too late. Your enjoyment of pools will be gone and someone will have been hurt.

 

A minute or two is all it takes for a child to be out of sight and in the pool. Accidents happen when you step out of the room for a moment to pull a pot off the stove, take a quick bathroom break, assist another child, or just look away for a minute. It is impossible to keep an eye on children at every second of the day, especially once they reach the age where they challenge the word “no” just out of curiosity. Maybe the child has always listened perfectly in the past, but all it takes is one moment for them to do otherwise. Children want to explore, and your beautiful pool will lure them close.

Take action now and secure your pool with a pool enclosure or pool fence.

Whether you have a child, pet, or someone in your neighborhood has a child, a secure pool enclosure is essential. A pool enclosure can save you from the real-life nightmare you don’t want to have. Give All Safe Pool Security Systems a call today to discuss what can be done to keep your pool safe. We proudly offer our pool fences and safety products to those throughout Pensacola, Gulf Breeze, Perdido Key, Pace, Navarre, Milton, FL and the nearby areas.

Secure Your Pool

Drowning dangers are ever-present for children

By Charlotte E. Tucker, USA TODAY

Lea Owens took her eyes off her 6-year-old son, Harley, only briefly. But in the three minutes that she was in the bathroom of her home in North Augusta, S.C., Harley slipped out the back door and into the swimming pool, where he drowned. "I came out of the bathroom and my other son said, 'Mom, I think Harley's in the pool. I see a head,' " Owens says. She jumped into the pool and pulled Harley out, but it was too late. Doctors at a nearby hospital couldn't revive him.

It's a story that plays out every summer across the USA: As the weather gets warmer, families head to the water. And despite the 
known dangers — drowning is the second-leading cause of injury-related death among children — a study released last week finds that many parents are complacent when it comes to supervising their children.

The study, sponsored by the National Safe Kids Campaign and Johnson & Johnson, examined 496 accidental drownings in 2000 and
2001 and found that 88% of the children had been under adult supervision. But a survey of parents done in tandem with the study found that many do other things while supervising swimming children: 11% talk on the phone, 18% read and 38% talk to other people.

Angela Mickalide, program director of the National Safe Kids Campaign, says the campaign advocates "active" supervision — 
continuous visual and auditory contact with children when they are in or near water.

"Most parents don't realize that drowning happens very quickly and very silently," she says. Unlike the rescues depicted on TV shows 
such as Baywatch, a drowning person can't yell or wave his arms.

"You need a lot of air to scream," Mickalide says.

As soon as a child gets in the water, the clock starts ticking, says Martin Eichelberger, a pediatric trauma surgeon at Children's 
National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and the chief executive of Safe Kids. Within just a few minutes, a child can suffer irreversible brain damage if the brain is deprived of oxygen.

U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona, who once worked as a lifeguard at New York's Rockaway Beach, says many parents get a 
false sense of security around water. "You hear it over and over again: 'I just looked away for a minute,' " he says. "And in that minute, tragedy happens."

Some experts recommend that parents think of pools and other bodies of water as inherent hazards to their children.

"If you've got a backyard pool, you have a death trap on your property," says Chris Brewster, president of the United States Lifesaving 
Association. Brewster says that if he had a pool on his property and there were children around, "I'd fill that pool with sand."

Most recommendations are less severe. Safe Kids says:

  • Pools should be surrounded by a fence with a self-closing, self-latching gate.
  • Children should wear U.S. Coast Guard-approved flotation devices.
  • Parents should not rely on inflatable inner tubes or water wings.

Lea Owens channeled her sorrow over Harley's death in 1998 by starting Mothers for Water Safety Coalition (www.mfwsc.com), an organization that campaigns for laws requiring public and private pools to have fences, covers, alarms and self-locking gates.

Owens was not oblivious to the dangers of the in-ground pool in the backyard, and she took steps to ensure her children's safety, 
including locking the back door.

But somehow Harley got outside.

"I know parents think their kid can't get the door open," she says. "But don't put it past him."

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