Posted on 07/08/2010 7:22:03 AM PDT by ventanax5
The new captain jumped from the cockpit, fully dressed, and sprinted through the water. A former lifeguard, he kept his eyes on his victim as he headed straight for the owners who were swimming between their anchored sportfisher and the beach. “I think he thinks you’re drowning,” the husband said to his wife. They had been splashing each other and she had screamed but now they were just standing, neck-deep on the sand bar. “We’re fine, what is he doing?” she asked, a little annoyed. “We’re fine!” the husband yelled, waving him off, but his captain kept swimming hard. ”Move!” he barked as he sprinted between the stunned owners. Directly behind them, not ten feet away, their nine-year-old daughter was drowning. Safely above the surface in the arms of the captain, she burst into tears, “Daddy!”
How did this captain know, from fifty feet away, what the father couldn’t recognize from just ten? Drowning is not the violent, splashing, call for help that most people expect.
(Excerpt) Read more at mariovittone.com ...
I snatch the kid, and the husband thinks I'm some sort of maniac/pederast/kidnapper. The lifeguard uniform was no help. True story.
Interesting article.
Bump.
There were lifeguards that were more concerned with their tan - it always amazed me why really bad things didn't happen more often.
Great article. Thanks for sharing it. Our family witnessed this type of thing several years ago. We were at the beach and several of us were about 70 yards back from the water where the picnic area was. My Father-in-law and Brother-in law were talking, standing in ankle deep water where the kids were swimming. Those of us back at the picnic tables could see my 2 year old neice (who was tiny for her age) had toppled over and was just floating face down in the water. We tried calling to them to get their attention but they just looked at us. Finally a couple guys ran down and pulled her out. She was fine but gave everyone a scare. You just can’t be so oblivious around little ones especially.
Excellent. Thank you for posting. It could save a life.
Thanks for posting. I have shared this article with my adult kids (especially the one who works at a community pool).
Certainly worth sharing. . .could well save a life.
Vital information everyone should know. Thanks for posting.
Outstanding article!
Outstanding post, thanks. The article and the comments which follow are very engrossing.
I believe your story.
My husband was a lifeguard in the marines, yet we were recently at a pool where a friend’s child nearly drowned. God was looking out for the kid and he managed to say, “Dad” and the father pulled him out. Understand, four adults were sitting about two feet away but just like this article said, he didn’t scream or splash.
When the dad pulled him out, the kid’s throat was spasming and they ran him to the emergency room where the parents were told all that is in this article.
I was surprised that my husband thought the whole thing was an overreaction. He said the kid would have passed out and survived. Needless to say, I now don’t trust Dad to watch my own girls in a pool.
Excellent post. A real eye-opener for me.
1. Any child shorter than knee-height is trying to drown, so act accordingly.I cannot stress #2 enough. Almost every rescue I have ever made started with, "I'm not seeing what I'm seeing."
2. Any rescue initially will appear unnecessary, so act accordingly.
I don’t understand why parents/adults are not watching a 2 yr old 100% of the time and be right next to them when in the water.
These sinkers would then race to the next slide down the line and repeat process for another lifeguard. The lifeguards at each pool were doing a save almost every 5-7 minutes.
>>1. Any child shorter than knee-height is trying to drown, so act accordingly.<<
Truth be told!
When my younger daughter was 18 months, I took her to a zero entrance pool. She toddled in, right over her head.
They ARE trying to drown.
Seriously?
We had a two year old drown at a waterpark here in MI. The parents sued and the park settled.
My question was, Where the H@ll were the parents?????
The answer, now back in the Middle East with a ton of American Dollars. No kidding.
But we did have diving boards. Thats a whole 'nuther story.
My four year old son nearly drowned a couple of years ago...and it was in a pool that wasn’t very crowded. We have six kids and he just decided to slip out of his inflatable ring (I know, I know it’s not a flotation device)to see if he could touch the bottom. We didn’t hear a word - no struggle, no nothing. Just a little guy that was lying at the bottom of the pool until a guardian angel decided to reach in and pull him out.
Great article - a must click on and read - even the comments!
Thank you so much for posting this article. I’ve already shared it with my husband, and my daughters. I’m sure (as the comments at the site state) that this article has the potential to save MANY lives...
Once had some coworkers on my boat in a river close enough to the ocean for the river’s flow to be seriously affected by tides. The coworker’s daughters were on a tube tied to the boat with a 60’ rope. As the coworker and his wife joked with some other people and ate their lunch, I spotted the 10-yr old daughter hop off the tube to swim to the boat and get quickly taken back by the now swift, outgoing current of low tide. I immediately dove in the water, swam to her, and managed to swim with her against the current to grab the rope holding the tube.
Pulled us both back to the boat and climbed the ladder inside, where the clueless parents offered their daughter some lunch.
Amazing.
Our daughter nearly drown in a hot tub full of adults when she was 10 or 11. We, her parents, were standing next to the hot tub. She was timing herself to see how long she could hold her breath.
The last time, she went under and we were all counting. Got up to 90 seconds. I’m thinking, “wow~ I didn’t know she was so good.” All of a sudden, the hot tub pumps shut off and she pops up out of the water screaming, with a huge bruise on her back.
The safety grill was missing over the intake at the bottom and it created a suction on her back and held her down. Amazingly, she did hold her breath and had not ingested water in her lungs. We rushed her to the hospital, where they pronounced her healthy except for a huge hickey.
The horrible thing was we were RIGHT there, sober, fully awake and did not even realize something was wrong.
After the incident, our daughter developed an irrational fear of natural disasters. A nurse that works with near drowning victims told me that’s normal for kids that have such a close brush with death. They realize their mortality way too young.
OK.
Time for a personal story that’ll make me sound like an idiot (and I am).
About six or seven years ago, my two daughters were splashing in the “kiddie” pool while my brother and I sat less than three feet away. We were talking and not paying attention.
“Daddy.”
“Hold on, Sophie.” (back to conversation)
“Daddy.”
“Just a minute, Sophie.” (back to conversation)
“Daddy!!!”
“WHAT !!!”
“Lola’s under water.”
And there she was, in less than 18 inches of water, on her back, eyes open and looking up at us. My brother reached in with one arm, without dropping his cigarette and pulled Lola out.
I grabbed her and turned her over and patted her on the back until she coughed, and then she smiled at me.
“Don’t tell your mother.”
Thanks for posting this. I grew up in Pompano Beach Fla and the grade schools there required swimming lessons so all of us that were in school learned to swim. My baby sister was only 3 the day we were in our next door neighbor’s pool. All of the older kids were splashing and screaming the way kids do when one of the adults suddenly jumped up, screamed and pointed at the pool. My sister was laying on the bottom and looked like she was asleep. Dad jumped in and brought her up. As soon as she hit air she started choking and gasping. She was fine but kids don’t always stay at the surface when they are drowning. Mom and Dad took her for private swimming lessons that same week. Her young age probably helped save her because really young kids seem to survive near drowning better than older kids and adults.
I have suspected that all my life. I nearly drowned at the beach at about age 3, and I have no interest in swimming, or boating.
Great article. I didn’t know any of this. Thanks for posting it.
I can relate. Some of these stories bring tears to my eyes. Bad memories for this dry lander.
This could also be analogous to our economic situation. We could go down suddenly, silently and without warning suffocating on our debt. There is no "Captain" to save us.
That is lazy parents, plain and simple.
Excellent article. Thanks for posting.
As always you learn something new everyday on FR, great article, thanks for sharing that.
Wow, very interesting and beneficial post. Thanks.
The youngest kid (maybe 6) took his arm floaties off and climbed right down the ladder. The only person who noticed him go under and not come back up was my 13 year old son. He was walking up to the pool from the house and lunged over the side and dragged the kid back up. Now, if we're together, we designate a pool monitor.
Personally, I HATE arm floats. I think it allows the parents and the kid to get too complacent around water. If you can't swim, an adult should have to have hands on you. Period.
Excellent article. Thanks for the ping.
Ping for later.
Same here.
As I read though the comments there were tragic stories of drownings and well as some good advice.
Here in Missouri even fishing boats have to have a throwable ring, boat cushion or similar item with a rope attached.
After reading the article about drowning people "climbing the ladder" it makes good sense to have the item readily available in boats, at a pool, boat docks etc.
Once in a while big brother does get something right.
I have a grandson that "passed out and survived" a near drowning when he was two. He spent months in a coma and is now in his twenties with skills of a baby. Surviving is not the only issue.
As an ex-Lifeguard, this article is spot on as well as many of the subsequent comments.
Forwarded to family, friends and our local Scout office to distribute via their e-mail list.
This one will get mass distribution pretty quickly.
Thanks for posting it.
Exactly.
I’m so sorry about your grandson.
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