Safety reminders for the summer as pools across Michiana begin to open

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) – Swim season is just about here.

Of course, a fun way to beat the heat, right? But it’s so important to remind families about the possible dangers too, especially when the little ones are involved.

With summer right around the corner, families are taking advantage of the open splash pads and pools to cool off. But for kids… pool safety isn’t all fun and games.

“You can drown in this much water. It’s just the distance between your mouth and your bottom lip. So, that’s the amount of water required to drown. So, you can drown in a puddle right, it’s very scary,” says Eleanor McComish, the health and recreation director at the Kroc Center in South Bend.

Aquatic accidents are one of the leading causes of death with little ones, so now is the best time for parents to make sure they’re on the same page as their kids when it comes to swimming.

“There’s a lot of really simple, easy basic things that kids can learn that can just be the difference between life and death if some kind of accident happens where a kid who doesn’t know how to swim ends up falling in the pool, if they know how to turn and grab the wall, if they know how to just flip over and turn on their back, it can make a lot of difference,” says Hunter Jackson, the aquatics manager at the Kroc Center.

CPR is a life skill that anyone can learn in case of emergency situation, but it can be especially useful for parents with children around water.

Compression rates are different for children than it is for adults, so parents are encouraged to learn the difference.

The Kroc Center offers both swim lessons and CPR classes.

“Swim as a pair, with a lifeguard there, so we never want to let kids approach a body of water on their own because there’s going to be no one to call for help if they do get into a dangerous situation,” McComish says.

Aside from drowning prevention, reminding kids to walk, not run, could prevent accidents like slipping and falling.

“There’s a ton of minor accidents that can happen,” Jackson says. “Just the other day, we had two kids bump into each other and one almost lost a tooth. And so, just making sure, listening to lifeguards and making sure that just watching for lifeguards and watching for posted rules just knowing in general how to stay safe can make a lot of difference.”

Again, as pools continue to open across Michiana, it’s worth considering signing your kids up for swimming lessons and brushing up on pool safety reminders like keeping an eye on kids in the pool.

And maybe learning CPR just in case.

There’s also pool safety resources on the Red Cross website.

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