Summer Safety President’s Post

Currently, I have an intern who has been working with us here at Sassy Scrubs. He also happens to be a part-time lifeguard at Keuka College. We just got talking the other day on just how important water safety is and how many people just don't know enough about it. With summer approaching, we felt that this topic was appropriate and a great reminder for us all to be vigilant and careful while enjoying the water this summer.

So we decided for this week's Presidential Post, we would share some useful tips and create some more awareness on water safety and the signs of drowning. By no means do we mean to frighten anyone, but then again awareness is key and we want to share some of these numbers with you. According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control, there were 3,443 unintentional fatal drownings in the U.S. in 2007. This is an average of ten deaths per day with one out of every five of those victims fourteen years of age or younger. These numbers are staggering, but with some awareness we hope that these tragic accidents can be prevented.

Francesco A. Pia, a water safety expert, and Mario Vittone, a writer on maritime safety, offer the tips with noticing potential drowning victims:

• In the vast majority of cases, those who are drowning are physiologically incapable of calling out for help becuase the human body is wired to give priority to the primary respiratory function, breathing, and not to speech, which is a secondary overlaid function.
• Drowning people's mouths aren't above water long enough to enable them to exhale, draw breath and call out, they have seconds to exhale and inhale quickly before thier mouths go back underwater.
• When we are drowning, our natural instinct is to press our arms outwards and downwards onto the surface of the water so we can leverage our bodies upwards to catch our breath.
• Waving arms about to draw attention is a voluntary movement: we have to stop drowning first before we can physically perform voluntary movements like waving for help, grabbing rescue equipment or moving towards a rescuer.

Since the signs of drowning are contrary to what so many people believe, we wanted to bring more awareness to this subject while reminding everyone to always keep safety in mind. We wish you and your family continue to have a great summer and stay safe!

-Karen