Indianapolis saw another instance of a child almost drowning in a swimming pool when a young boy celebrating his 13th birthday was found floating near the bottom of a neighborhood pool and who now remains in critical condition (as of Tuesday, May 31st) at Riley Hospital. Our prayers go out to this boy and his family and we hope that he recovers fully from this tragic accident over the Memorial Day Weekend.
So far this year, there have been 55 fatalities and 63 close-calls across the country involving swimming pools. It’s in hopes of keeping these numbers low as we enter the summer season that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has re-upped its “Pool Safely: Simple Steps Save Lives” campaign for another year.
The CPSC is promoting a national educational effort try and protect kids from swimming pool drowning accidents, as well as injuries due to entrapment incidents in both swimming pools and spas.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has also released its latest statistics on swimming pool accidents involving children, which include the following:
- An annual average of 383 pool and spa-related drownings for children younger than 15 occurred from 2006 to 2008; about 76 percent of the reported fatalities involved children younger than five.
- An estimated average of 5,100 pool or spa emergency department-treated submersions for children younger than 15 occurred each year from 2008 to 2010; children younger than five represented 79 percent of these-injuries.
- Children between the ages of one and three (12 to 47 months) represented 66 percent of these fatalities and 64 percent of the injuries.
- About 72 percent of the fatalities from 2006 through 2008, and 55 percent of the estimated injuries from 2008 through 2010 that involved children younger than 15 occurred in a residential pool or spa; children under five made up the majority of incidents at residential locations, with 84 percent of fatalities and 61 percent of injuries, respectively.
- Tragically, based on reported statistics, 96% of victims involved in a submersion incident will die. Fatalities usually occur the day of the drowning event (72%). For the victims who survive the event, most will succumb to their injuries within a week (24%). Only 4% of near drowning victims will survive beyond a week, and many will have severe injuries and require intensive medical care.
- There were no reported entrapment fatalities for 2010. CPSC received three reports of entrapment injury incidents during 2010.
