Intensive Pool Safety Campaign Begins : Phoenix Ranks No. 1 in Child Drownings

This desert community has 180,000 swimming pools that have made it and Arizona the nation’s leaders in drownings of young children.

Where four out of every 100,000 American children will drown in swimming pools each year, 17 will die here, said Phoenix Fire Department Division Chief Doug Tucker. “We are so far above the national average it’s sickening.

“Arizona leads the nation in childhood drowning under the age of 4 and it’s the leading cause of death for children under 4 in Arizona.”

Tired of responding to drownings that could have been prevented, the department this summer began an intensive safety campaign tied to the theme that it takes “Just a Few Seconds” of inattentiveness for a drowning to occur.

The campaign has drawn wide support from health officials, pool companies and the media, but has been criticized by those who say 100% supervision is unrealistic and by victims’ parents who resent being made to feel guilty.

“If you have a pool, you’re at risk for an accident like this,” said Tammy Mauldin, whose 2-year-old son, Jake, drowned last August. Jake was watching television when he went out a door that had an alarm, through a locked gate and into the water. “We still don’t know how he was able to get outside.

“The guilt is horrible. At first there’s denial and then you get numb so you can go through the service. Then you feel the loss so severely it’s hard to function,” said Mauldin, who founded the East Valley Grief Support Family Group, one of two support groups. The other is Desert Parents of Near Drowning.

Mauldin said she knows of a woman whose child drowned recently and has gotten seven or eight telephone calls telling her she’s a horrible person.

There are various theories why so many children drown in Arizona--Florida and California run distant seconds--but Steve Jensen, an assistant to the fire chief, believes people just start taking safety for granted.

“Just A Few Seconds” began July 1. That week, local TV stations mentioned the problem nearly 100 times, and one broadcast videotape of an actual response to a child-drowning report.

In addition to 80 near-drownings, 19 people had drowned by the end of July--13 of them under age 4. Last year, six children died in 108 drownings and near-drownings. Those numbers do not include children who survive, brain-damaged from oxygen deprivation, and then die after several years, Tucker said.

On average, a 2-year-old boy runs the highest risk, he said, because they are “a little more aggressive at that age and curious.”

As part of “Just A Few Seconds,” firefighters are addressing business and social groups and working with the media on drowning-prevention programs and CPR classes. About 9,000 people attended CPR lessons July 29.

Firefighters now distribute 5-by-10-inch black cards with pool safety tips and CPR instructions on one side. On the other are long, somber columns with the dates of two years’ near-drownings. An enlarged version of the card recently was printed as a full-page ad in the Phoenix Gazette.

The campaign has had some immediate effects.

Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, requires pool owners in unincorporated areas to have at least a 4 1/2-foot-high wall around the yard. The Board of Supervisors is expected to consider a proposal requiring them to fence in the pool area, said LaDonna Fields, a board executive assistant. Most of the cities and towns around Phoenix have or are developing similar requirements.

In addition, Cover-Pools Inc. of Arizona has sold 25% more safety covers than last year, said general manager Pam Westman.