What Every Health Provider Needs to Know about Drowning (Hoffman, 11/3/2021)

 Thank you to Dr. Ben Hoffman who gave a profoundly moving talk on Drowning Prevention in Children. What an honor to host the national expert on accident prevention!

A recording of the excellent presentation is HERE. 

I consider this presentation a MUST for all of us that care for children. This is PRACTICE CHANGING.

Here are our notes:

Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional injuries in children 1-18 from data collected between 2009-2018-- that’s over 9,000 children. 

• Imagine 9 school buses of children-- 72 kiddos in each bus-- that die every year from drowning.
• Drowning is the single leading cause of death in children ages 1-4, and the 2^nd leading cause in children 15-19.
• We must remember the BIPOC community who suffer disproportionately from incidents of drowning.
• we can trace this reality back to systemic racism and lack of access to pools, swimming lessons, etc.

 PREVENTION: the AAP has created both a toolkit https://www.aap.org/drowning and a policy (attached) to help providers educate family’s on drowning prevention. The toolkit has both general information and patient handouts and posters for your office.

https://www.aap.org/drowning

The bottom line: LAYERS OF PROTECTION to prevent drownings, and we should focus particularly on new parents of children <4, teens, BIPOC families, and children with disabilities and epilepsy.

                *infants: never leave unsupervised – even a second- in water.

                *toddlers: their curiosity is dangerous. Never leave a toddler unsupervised around any water. They can get into tubs, toilets, wading pools. Lock or empty these when not in use.

                *swimming lessons: no evidence that they protect infants, but there IS evidence that they work for children 1-4 yrs old and shows a significant reduction in drownings.

                *water competence: we should teach our families that learning to swim is a life skill. Many BIPOC parents were never taught to swim so consider the water dangerous.

                *erect barriers: particularly pools – 70% of pool drownings are when it’s not “swim time”. Pool fences that have 4 sides with a locking gate reduce drownings by 50%.

                *supervision: constant, close and capable supervision-at arm’s length if a child can’t swim competently. Don’t rely on lifeguards – children still drown in their presence.

*life jackets: only coast guard approved life jackets are appropriate (and a must when our families visit the Russian River or the Sonoma Coast). Never rely on anything inflatable. The coast guard approved life jackets are more expensive than the inflatables.

*advocacy: some cities have life jacket loaner programs. Dr Hoffman will be glad to speak to anyone who is interested in starting a program locally (for example Spring Lake loans them with boat rentals).