Countywide : Pool Safety: Some Words of Wisdom

Walking toward the swimming pool complex where he was scheduled to speak on child drownings, Dr. Gary Goodman on Wednesday saw something that instantly made him very nervous--an open gate leading to the pool area.

“I felt a tremendous anxiety,” said Goodman, the director of Children’s Hospital of Orange County’s emergency unit. “It bothers me so much to see a pool unprotected.”

The same sense of urgency permeated Orange County Drowning Prevention Day on Wednesday, where parents and health care professionals gathered in Mission Viejo to send the public a message: Pool drownings are the No. 1 cause of accidental death among small children in Orange County.

Speakers included Mary Glass, who lost her 20-month-old son, Christopher, in a pool accident two years ago.

“My mother used to clip stories about child drownings, and I’d tell her, ‘Mom, don’t worry, that will never happen to me,’ ” Glass said, wiping at her tears. “I used to think this only happened to parents who didn’t supervise their children. But it can happen to anyone.”

In Orange County this year, five children have drowned in a pool. Another 18 near-drownings have occurred in 1993, resulting in two cases of permanent brain damage.

The Orange County Pool Safety Network, an education group, has researched pool deaths in the county and found that in 80% of the incidents children were last seen indoors. Only 16% of the people watching the youngsters were trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

The statistics tell Goodman that “the only treatment (for pool drownings) is prevention. When children come in with an asphyxiated brain, there’s nothing we can do at that point.”

Goodman and other speakers said homes with pools and spas need “layers of protection.”

Pools should be fenced off from the house and the rest of the back yard. Gates and doors leading to the pool should open outward, be self-closing and self-locking.

“The pool company who installed our pool didn’t tell us how dangerous it could be,” Glass said. “We could have had a fence installed for $400. Our pool cost us $30,000.”

Glass and the Orange County Pool Safety Network have campaigned for cities to adopt ordinances requiring all pools to be fenced. Last year, Mission Viejo passed a law with stringent pool requirements, including a mandate that all gates be equipped with alarms.

In front of a gathering of about 50 people Wednesday morning, the Orange County Fire Department simulated a rescue to demonstrate why such laws are needed.

A young boy named Damian strolled by the pool, leaned over to touch an object floating in the water, and fell in with a splash. As he floated to the top, face down, Fire Capt. Ron Blaul asked the crowd what they heard.

As ears strained to catch a sound in the silence, Blaul said, “that’s the sound of a child drowning. It is a very silent killer.”

As Fire Department rescuers dived into the pool to retrieve the boy, Blaul urged the public to learn CPR.

“In all the years I’ve performed emergency rescues, I’ve never saved a child that didn’t have CPR on the scene,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that it’s never happened, but it illustrates the tremendous value of CPR.”

Medical facilities such as Children’s Hospital of Orange County and health organizations, including the American Heart Assn. and the American Red Cross, offer CPR training, said Orange County Pool Safety Network officials.

For information about drowning prevention and pool safety, the organization can be contacted at (714) 532-8680.