CPR Helps Dilute the Danger

Fifteen-month-old Mia Buck is one of the lucky ones. She’s alive, and well, because her cousin was there to pull her out of the Huntington Beach swimming pool she fell into after wandering unnoticed from his birthday party. And because her uncle had taken a class in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

If more people knew CPR, perhaps more children like Mia would be alive today.

As it is, nationwide, drowning is one of the leading causes of death for children 5 and under. It has for years also been listed as a leading cause of death for children 14 and under in California. Last year in Orange County, nine children 5 and under drowned, the most since 1996. There were also 30 near-drownings, incidents in which children survive but often suffer severe brain damage. Over the past 10 years the county has averaged eight child drownings a year.

What makes these drownings and injuries especially tragic is that they are preventable. The best approaches are constant adult vigilance of youngsters anywhere near water, in any kind of setting, and fencing, barriers and secure gates around backyard swimming pools. That includes older pools built before such fencing was required.

Parents should also teach youngsters never to be in a pool alone. And adults must be ever alert to the dangerous mix of children and water. Pools aren’t the only deadly danger. Toddlers have also drowned in just inches of water--in bathtubs, buckets and toilets.

What’s also vital, especially in homes that have swimming pools, is being sure that adults and older children are trained in CPR.

Several weeks ago, a campaign on the need to learn CPR was launched by the Orange County Drowning Prevention Network, the YMCA and Children’s Hospital of Orange County, a major facility for treating the near-drowning victims. The campaign opened with a series of classes to teach CPR to residents.

We urge residents to learn CPR. It’s the least a community should do that loses an average of eight children a year to drownings.