Many residents — especially those with small children — practically live at the pool during the hot summer months. So when I stumbled upon this post by Mario Vittone, a marine safety specialist for the Coast Guard, I knew I had to share it with DGreport readers.
My kids have taken swim lessons and we’ve logged long hours at the pool and beach, but as vigilant as I’ve tried to be, I realize now how little I knew about the actually signs of drowning.
Vittone’s post not only explains what drowning really looks like — and it’s not like they show it in the movies — but it also sheds light on why so many children drown in full view of their parents or other adults.
Please take a moment and read this. And read the comments too, as many of them provide eloquent and unnerving testimony as to just how quickly a tragedy can occur.
Great article, needs to be read by every parent.
Some parents, have the tendency to wave off water danger because they are good swimmers. I ran a day camp for four summers when I was younger, and I cannot tell you how accurate that article was. When the summer started, I always showed a 20/20 video to my counselors about a boy who drowned in a public pool and no one noticed for five minutes!!!!
It can happen, please be careful near the water.
Ditto – good article.
When I was a kid (ouch – there goes that phrase from my lips again), we were taught something called the “Dead Man’s Float”. It was supposed to be a way to survive longer in the water in an emergency than treading water because it took less energy. How bizarre to now realize that that is similar to how a drowning person would look. I would be concerned now if I saw someone doing that float, even if I saw them taking the occasional breaths.
To the Maple Hill Female lifeguard who jumped in the big pool and bought me to the surface, thank you. This event happen in the late 70′s, I was bound and determine to jump in the deeper water. I understand the article is about being aware of drowning victims, but the pool waters of Downers Grove led me to a safe childhood and young adult years. Swimming led me to a sport that I can keep my head in water and block the noise out. My favorite lifeguard story is about an adult man fully dress at a dinner pool party in California in the 1960′s and he stop talking to other adults and notice a girl having trouble in the pool. That fully dress man and his fancy none waterproof watch jumped in the pool and rescued her, that man’s name was Ronald Reagan (Illinois’s most famous lifeguard). Thanks again to the beautiful lifeguard with blond hair, sparking blue eyes and nice smile for keeping Maple Hill waters safe for me and other swimmers.