FORNEY, Texas — The father of a three-year-old who nearly drowned Saturday at a Forney-area pool is encouraging more people to learn CPR which he accredits for saving his daughter's life.
FORNEY, Texas — The father of a three-year-old who nearly drowned Saturday at a Forney-area pool is encouraging more people to learn CPR which he accredits for saving his daughter's life.
The father says his daughter has made a full recovery after the near-drowning incident on Saturday, August 1, 2015.
“Many people think that these near drowning events are only the result of parents who are just hanging out and allowing their children to run around the pool unsupervised, but this kind of accident can occur in a split second even when you are trying to do everything you are supposed to as a parent,” he says.
In fact, experts say, of the nearly ten drowning related deaths a year, drowning victims do not usually splash, yell, or wave for help as seen in television and movies.
“Without training, we are conditioned first to think of drowning as a violent struggle that is noisy and physical. It is not,” says Aviation Survival Technician First Class Mario Vittone who wrote a 2006 column for the United States Coast Guard entitled “It Doesn’t Look Like They’re Drowning” which cites five stages of the Instinctive Drowning Response (IDR) as identified by Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D.
“Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary, or overlaid, function. Breathing must be fulfilled, before speech occurs,” states the IDR.
In stage five, Pia says “unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.”
In the case of Saturday’s near-drowning, the father says they had just removed the 3-year-old’s life vest to practice swimming and going under water while in the small, kiddie-pool. Having lost sight of her for a brief moment, the family discovered her at the bottom of the big pool — just a couple feet away.
The father pulled her from the pool and began administering CPR with the assistance of two bystanders, he said.
“Two bystanders assisted and as a team we made sure that CPR was being performed as correctly and efficiently as possible,” he said. “Thanks to the bystanders, we were able to resuscitate her.”
The 3-year-old girl was taken to Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, for observation. Forney Fire Department Chief Rick Townsend says this is standard procedure in a near drowning because most issues arise later due to the possibility water entered the lungs which could develop late-delayed pneumonia.
“My wife and I took a CPR class while in the hospital and plan on enrolling our children in swim classes as soon as we can afford to in hopes to prevent a similar event from occurring,” he said.
“I encourage more people to learn CPR because the truth of the matter is that events like this will continue to occur, and the best chance we have of saving the lives of these young children is immediate application of CPR,” he said.
“CPR performed by bystanders has been shown to save lives and improve outcomes in drowning victims,” states the CDC’s website. “The more quickly CPR is started, the better the chance of improved outcomes.”
The CDC provides several tips to help stay safe in the water. Those tips can be viewed at their website, here.
