How to Keep Children Alive and Swimming

Re “Bystanders Save Girl, 11, From Pool Bottom,” July 29:

Kudos to those bystanders who pulled the girl, unable to swim, from the bottom of an apartment pool. A year-old child fell into another apartment pool a day later.

The strategies, which saved the children’s lives, were vigilance of community members at the pool and, in the first case, training in basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

I encourage all of our citizens to take the basic CPR course. There is also a developmentally based skills curriculum to teach lifesaving measures and CPR to schoolchildren. Furthermore, when children are at a pool site, an adult should be appointed to watch the pool.

What are the other strategies, in addition to supervision and vigilance, to prevent residential pool drownings of children?

1. Municipal and state laws requiring four-sided enclosures isolating the pool or spa from the rest of the property. The American Academy of Pediatrics stresses this proven protective measure.

2. A multifaceted approach with layers of barriers.

3. Education of health care providers, educators, residents and parents to prevent pool drownings.

4. Tracking all cases to determine risk factors and effectiveness of preventive measures.

5. Teaching children over 5 to swim.

Many public health advocates in Orange County work tirelessly to prevent these tragedies, including Drowning Prevention of Orange County, the Orange County Fire Authority, Marcia Kerr of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Orange County Grand Jury. Also deserving credit are Children’s Hospital of Orange County and the Orange County Health Care Agency Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention Division.

Phyllis Agran, M.D., M.P.H.

Alberto Gedissman, M.D.

Orange