Home WORLD NEWS 5 kids in 1 day nearly drowned in the Fort Worth area. Here’s what may have caused that.

5 kids in 1 day nearly drowned in the Fort Worth area. Here’s what may have caused that.

by Bioreports
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As summer weather hit the Fort Worth area in full force this week, some health providers were surprised and disheartened by a trend they’re already seeing — an increase in children nearly drowning.

Five children were seen at Cook Children’s Medical Center on Sunday for nonfatal drowning cases. Of the five children, who ranged in age from 1 to 14, four were at swimming pools and one was at a lake, said Sharon Evans, the hospital’s trauma and injury prevention coordinator. Medically speaking, drowning is defined as someone having trouble breathing after water gets into their lungs.

“To have five in one day is pretty disheartening,” Evans said.

All five patients were in stable condition, Evans said. Their symptoms included being more tired than usual or throwing up water — several were unresponsive and had to be revived with CPR at the scenes of their accidents.

The relatively high number of children treated so early in the summer has Evans concerned. Last year, medical providers saw relatively few drownings. But as people start to gather again for backyard barbecues and pool parties, Evans worries drownings may be more common.

“Everyone has been cooped up for a year and a half, and summer kind of came with a vengeance — there was no warming up to it, it was all of a sudden 95 degrees,” Evans said. “It’s a combination of needing to cool off and everyone wanting to get together and see other people.”

Twenty-five kids have fatally drowned in Texas so far in 2021, according to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Seven died in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, according to DFPS data: four in Dallas County, one in Tarrant County, one in Kaufman County and one in Johnson County. In 2020, 87 children fatally drowned in Texas.

Drowning prevention

To protect children from drowning, adults should keep their eyes on children at all times, Evans said. Some groups use a “water watcher” method, where adults take shifts of five to 10 minutes where their sole job is to watch kids in the pool or lake.

“People assume if there are a lot of adults around, then they will see if something will happen,” Evans said. “But it can be really silent.”

People may think a child who is drowning would yell and thrash, but often a drowning child can be hard to spot, Evans said. A child who is drowning may only get their head above water with enough time to take a breath and will not be able to call out. A parent can be sitting right next to a child and not know they are underwater, she said.

Children and inexperienced swimmers should wear Coast-Guard-approved life jackets when in or near the water, according to the American Red Cross. But the Red Cross reminds people that they should not rely on life vests alone, and children should always be supervised in the water. Additionally, not all flotation devices are life saving. Some swim trainers or arm floaties are not meant to be life-saving devices — the label on the inside of a device should say whether it is a life-saving device or not.

Parents can also take first aid or CPR classes, which can be found through the American Red Cross website or customer service line at (888) 394-9725. The YMCA in Fort Worth also offers medical emergency courses.

According to WebMD, complications of drowning include coughing, chest pain, trouble breathing and feeling extremely tired. If a child has breathing problems after being in the water, they should see a medical professional right away.

Overall, Evans emphasized the importance of supervising children while they are in the water — diligently doing so can save lives.

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