Latest Drowning Stories

Fewer children required hospitalization following a drowning incident over the last two decades, according to a new study from the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy. According to the study, pediatric hospitalizations from drowning-related incidents declined 51 percent from 1993 to 2008. The rates declined significantly for all ages and for both genders, although drowning-related hospitalizations remained higher for boys at every age. Hospitalization rates also decreased...

Education campaigns aimed at reducing drowning by children are paying off. In 1993, public health officials estimated 3,623 kids and teens aged 19 and under were admitted to the hospital after almost drowning. In 2008, only 1,781 children were admitted for the same reason. “We found a significant decline in the rate of pediatric drowning hospitalizations, which is consistent with documented decreases in pediatric deaths from drowning,” said Stephen Bowman, from the Johns Hopkins...

(Ivanhoe Newswire) – More than 380,000 Americans each year are assessed by EMS for sudden cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest occurs when electrical impulses in the heart go awry and cause it to stop beating normally. Only 11 percent of people who experience sudden cardiac arrest outside the hospital setting survive. However, with the aid of 9-1-1 dispatchers, this could change. E. Brooke Lerner, Ph.D., lead author of the statement and associate professor of emergency medicine at the Medical...

American Heart Association scientific statement More people will survive sudden cardiac arrest when 9-1-1 dispatchers help bystanders assess victims and begin CPR immediately, according to a new American Heart Association scientific statement published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. In the 2010 resuscitation guidelines, the association advised 9-1-1 dispatchers to help bystanders assess anyone who may have had a cardiac arrest and then direct them to begin...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Jan. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Winter has barely started, yet already more than 10 incidents involving falls through ice, several of them fatal, have been reported in the news media. Experts blame unseasonably warm temperatures and alternate freezing and thawing for the dangerous conditions. "We urge everyone to stay off all frozen bodies of water," said Kim Burgess, executive director of the National Drowning Prevention Alliance. "The perceived...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Dec. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Drowning Prevention Alliance and USA Swimming Foundation are co-sponsoring a national competition in search of the 2011 Lifesaver of the Year. The nomination period, originally set to close on November 30, has been extended through December 16 in response to numerous requests. "Most of the year we concentrate on the unacceptable number of lives lost due to this preventable tragedy," said Kim Burgess, NDPA executive...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Oct. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Drowning Prevention Alliance and USA Swimming Foundation launched a national competition in search for the 2011 Lifesaver of the Year. Nominators should visit http://www.facebook.com/NationalDrowningPreventionAlliance and click the "Lifesaver of the Year" tab to upload a photo and essay about the nominee. Describe how the nominee saved someone's life or affected the lives of others in a water-related incident. Any person who...

SARASOTA, Fla., Oct. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- People who can't swim panic without the knowledge of how their bodies and the water work together. 21st Century Swimming Lessons, Inc. ("21st") of Sarasota, FL reports that, nationally, many beginning swim class skills are too advanced for beginning students because students are taught stroke mechanics before they understand how the water works. Therefore, large percentages of students fail lessons, especially adults, every year. Over 70 percent...

Very young children who live in a home with a swimming pool are at risk of drowning, a leading cause of injury death among toddlers. A study abstract presented Monday, Oct. 17, at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition in Boston identifies three likely scenarios that precede the drowning of a very young child (ages 1 to 4) in an at-home swimming pool. In the study, "Patterns of Drowning in Young Children," researchers reviewed Orange County, Calif.,...

Jones to address importance of water safety in effort to reduce number of drownings, particularly among minority youth MIAMI, Sept. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For the third consecutive year, the USA Swimming Foundation and Olympic Gold Medalist Cullen Jones have joined forces with ConocoPhillips to raise awareness about the importance of learning to swim as part of the Make a Splash Tour with Cullen Jones. Through this tour, Jones, a survivor of a near-drowning incident at age five...