It really made me think carefully, 'twice', about updating my CPR /first aid certificate. I trained as Registered nurse over 20 years ago, I worked for over 12yrs in a Paediatric ward but I don't think I ever had to put my CPR skills to the test except on the plastic baby resus 'Annie'.
I know prevention is the key ...
• Anyone can be affected by a drowning or near drowning experience ...doesn't have to be your child or grandchild - you could be anywhere and be the only one
• So learn resuscitation
• Providing immediate first aid increases the chance of recovery
Keep all our kids alive ... do the five
- Fence the pool
- Shut the gate
- Teach your kids to swim - it's great
- Supervise - watch your mate and
- LEARN HOW TO RESUSCITATE
On Sunday night we were at my brother's house, they have a pool and 3 children from 6 to 13yrs . It was too cold to swim but I couldn't get the thought out of my mind ...what if ? I knew the older kids and my 15yr were outside with s & J playing but I still checked a few times.
The previous weekend we went 4wding and camped near a river .My Mother in law with her sage
Accidents happen and toddlers are little monkeys. My own boys are so quick to get into mischief and when I am distracted mayhem follows.
I am planning on updating /doing a CPR asap.
You can also make donations to the Samuel Morris foundation here.
I read an estimate that suggests for every child who drowns, 14 are taken to hospital emergency departments and 3-4 of those are admitted to hospital...1/5th will suffer hypoxic brain injury and be disabled for life.
So I quote the Ripples blog here
So have you checked your pool fence and gate lately to ensure it is safe? Do your children have the skills to be safe in the water?On Saturday I took my twins swimming (well to play ) at the local pool. I was surprised by a few parents watching their toddlers/preschoolers , from benches fully dressed ...I was in the knee/thigh high water very uneasy watching my own two boys who kept going different directions, and behind the various structures that obscured a clear view ...WT ?
Do you ALWAYS supervise the children in and around the water?
Do you know CPR in case the unimaginable happens?
What are you going to do about these today?
It was so easy for S & J to wade out of their depth and I had to make a quick grab more than once. Plus with a few kids moving and throwing balls about it wasn't easy to be right beisde them.
We missed starting swimming lessons this last term because of Sam's broken leg ...the day I went to inquire about booking them in was the day he broke his leg. Come Spring we will for sure be enrolling.
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Such an important topic.
It's SO scary.
When Jack was 3.5 we moved into my parent's old house which has a pool. I was so paranoid.
We got a gate around the pool with a combination lock.
We had a party at our house. It was evening. The pool was locked. I felt relatively safe with my child wandering around the house.
Then I went outside and saw people (without our permission) had opened the gate (by sticking their arms through and hitting the latch) and they were hanging out at the pool.
I was so furious and freaked out. Jack wasn't out there yet. But parties with pools and young children scare the hell out of me. What if someone was drunk, not thinking, and decided to let Jack go out there with them?
Maybe I overreacted. I don't know.
My parents knew someone who had a party and a three-year-old child drowned.
I think parties like this are so dangerous because the adults are having fun. And they assume that the other parent is watching the child.
I have been intending to take a CPR class since close friends moved into a house with a pool late last year. We have all talked about doing a course at their house or at playgroup and your blog has prompted me not to shelve this till its too late but rather to make the time over the coming months. I don't think a parent can be too cautious round water, these tragedies happen in an instant.
I am so paranoid about my kids and pools that we actually turned down a house we were looking at buying because it had a huge pool in the backyard...i had a friend whose child died in their back yard pool..they were never the same...ugh...I really should update my cpr as well..
It often amazes me when we're at swimming pools how seemingly unconcerned a lot of parents with their small children playing in the water. Now that F and J are older and somewhat more predictable I will take the girls to a toddler pool where they can stand or wading on the river edge. Anything other than that I won't do unless there are 2 other adults with me (1 adult per child).
We also have a dam at our home that I seriously thought about getting filled in. It is far enough away that I don't think it proves an immediate threat and I am slightly less fearful now the girls are older - Still, you can never be too careful.
When I last did a first aid/CPR course they didn't have a baby/infant dummy so we didn't do it. In real life it's probably more likely to be needed for a child than for an adult.
Having said that, I would never do another St John's course because the presenter was just bad - much of the stuff he taught was out of date and my little brother the paramedic was horrified. The presenter was also very Bris-centric - we had a couple of engineering students going off to far away places and he wouldn't teach splinting of broken limbs because the ambulance gets to you within half an hour and there's no point. Lots of point if you're going to be three day's drive out the back of Bourke. Idiot!
So do a GOOD course. Where they teach you what you need to know. Like resus of a baby.
@ Dina- I have seen the same thing at parties. People don't think clearly when they are affected by alcohol.
Sadly a lot of drownings happen when there are 2 or more adults around ..each assuming littlies are with the other.
I would react the same way.
@Sarah - wow I thinking about you just a while ago ...any day now ;)
I think is is great idea to do it together.
@Robyn - I refused to have a pool here until my twins are primary aged at least. I saw what my 15yr did as a toddler/preschooler when my MIL who lived with us paid to put in a pool.
As well the older nieces and nephews who came to visit/swim at my MIL's would block the gate so it stayed open and sometimes they were only watched from the window. I wasn't not happy sometimes to come home and see it open.
@Alison - after last weekend I feel the same way.It was a little nerve wracking watching the two of them.
Our pool is like that too ...graduated wading /river edge.Easy for unpredictable toddlers to get out of their depth very quickly.
Dams are a tricky situation, necessary but not easy to fence. Slippery too getting in and out.I wish you well whatever decision you make.
@ Jen I am going to check around and ask the preschool for recommendations too. I did my CPR on baby resus 'dummies' in the hospital refresher courses because I worked in paed ward not sure what they do in other ones.
I definitely want to learn CPR. There aren't any courses in Palembang at the moment but I'll definitely get enrolled in one the first chance I get.
Good post!
Excellent post and damn good advice :)
Such good advice - I grew up with a swimming pool with a 2' high "toad fence" - obviously survived, but there were very stiff disincentives about going near it without an adult.
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