Do not swim alone, Lifesaving Society stresses in kickoff to drowning prevention week

Officials with the Lifesaving Society are highlighting the significance of swimming with others and sporting a life-jacket as they mark one other National Drowning Prevention Week.

It comes as extra folks hit the water for the summer time amid a spate of latest drowning deaths within the London space, together with the drowning of a 17-year-old in Chatham, an 18-year-old man in Ipperwash, and a 35-year-old man in Port Burwell.

The week-long security marketing campaign started on Sunday, the identical day Stratford police stated a 13-year-old Hamilton lady drowned whereas swimming within the reservoir of Wildwood Conservation Area.

This 12 months, the nationwide volunteer group and registered charity is specializing in educating the general public concerning the risks of swimming alone.

The group says swimming alone was a factor in roughly 56 per cent of drowning deaths in Ontario final 12 months involving adults aged 35 to 64, and 69 per cent of deaths involving adults 65 and older.

In younger kids 5 and underneath, absent or distracted supervision was a consider 97 per cent of drownings, officers say.

“Drowning is fast, and it’s often silent, so we’re looking at ways that you can be safer together, whether that’s with someone else, or a parent being within arm’s reach, or whether it’s with your life jacket,” stated Stephanie Bakalar, a spokesperson for the Lifesaving Society’s Ontario department.

“We have seen quite a few drownings this year, on par with the last few years happening in July, and it is often related to not being able to swim. It’s a huge risk factor,” she stated.

Nearly half of all reported drownings within the province final 12 months occurred in a lake or pond. Nineteen per cent concerned a river, 15 per cent a bath, and 11 per cent a pool. Just one per cent occurred in lifeguard-supervised settings.

Another main threat issue consists of not sporting a life-jacket, together with whereas boating. In at the least 86 per cent of boating-related drownings final 12 months, the sufferer was not sporting a life-jacket, the society says.

“I think there’s a misconception with life-jackets that they’re bulky, cumbersome, difficult. ‘I don’t need a life jacket,’ is the attitude of a lot of people. ‘I can swim. I’m on the boat, I’ll be fine,'” Bakalar stated.

“Once you’ve been in an accident on a boat or fallen overboard, you’re not going to be able to get to your life-jacket to put it on. Same as you’re not going to wait to put a seat belt on until after you’ve crashed your car.”

She stated fashionable life-jackets are available in quite a lot of types and fashions, together with inflatable ones that keep flat till you want them.

Bakalar recommends folks all the time swim with somebody who is aware of the best way to swim or has lifesaving coaching, or to swim the place there are lifeguards supervising. Children ought to all the time be actively watched always, she stated.

Taking or brushing up on swimming lessons can also be a good way to remain protected within the water, she stated, and the information gained by way of lifesaving training may be helpful even when you do not plan to develop into a lifeguard.