Learn water safety at Apache Junction event, classes

By Richard Dyer
Mail | Twitter: @RHDyer

Water safety — including the use of life jackets, hands-on traditional CPR demonstrations, mini swim lessons, rescue techniques and sun safety — will be explained to families participating in a free April event offered by the city of Apache Junction, police department and fire district.

Apache Junction residents also can learn water safety at city parks and recreation programs or from private businesses such as SWIMkids USA.

There was one drowning incident in 2022 in the Superstition Fire and Medical District, which includes Apache Junction and Gold Canyon. One adult 18 and older died, according to the Children’s Safety Zone website, which collaborates with local fire departments, hospitals and the media to gather statistics on drowning incidents.

That’s up from no drowning incidents in 2021, but the same as the one drowning incident in 2020 where an adult died, it states on a PDF downloaded from childrensafetyzone.com that shows drownings and fatalities statistics since 2003 for the Phoenix metropolitan area by age brackets: Peds 0 to 5 years old, children 6 to 12, teens 13 to 17, and adults 18 and above.

Drowning is the No. 1 cause of accidental death for children under the age of 5, Tina Gerola, fire inspector and CPR specialist for Superstition Fire and Medical District, said.

“It can happen to anyone — anywhere — and in seconds. Pinal and Maricopa counties saw 60 deaths resulting from 143 water-related incidents in 2022. Fifteen of these deaths were children under the age of 5, including a 2-year old who drowned on Christmas Eve. Although the focus is primarily on young children, sadly, three teens and 42 adults also died from drowning last year. Sixty families and their communities were devastatingly changed forever,” she said.

“The good news is drowning is 100% preventable. We want our families to be safe in and around all bodies of water, and to know it’s as easy as A, B and C,” Gerola said.

The ABC’s to remember, she said, are:

• A: Active and undistracted adult supervision with constant eye-to-eye contact.
• B: Barriers. If a child can get to the water — they will. There must be a pool fence with self-latching gate in good working order, door and window locks, doggie door sliders, and anything else that will come between the child and the water; and
• C: Coast Guard approved life vests and CPR and swim classes for everyone in your family. Traditional swim lessons are a wonderful experience for children. They not only teach little ones a life-saving skill, they build confidence, strength and a safer community.

Learning how to swim

The city of Apache Junction offers swim lessons for a fee evenings May 31-June 9, June 13-23, June 27-July 7, July 11-21 and July 25-Aug. 4, with registration opening April 15 at apachejunctionaz.gov/onlinereg.

“Water safety education is a huge component in battling drownings in Arizona. Whether it is a backyard pool, a lake, or a city pool the more tools someone has on the belt the better we can stop something that is 100% preventable,” Elliott Anuta, city of Apache Junction recreation assistant, said.

SWIMkids USA, 2725 W. Guadalupe Road in Mesa, offers weekly 30- to 60-minute swim lessons for all ages, according to swimkidsaz.com.

Classes have names such as “water smart infants,” “water smart babies” and beginning, intermediate and advanced survival.

Students learn breath control, submersion, floating, propulsion and water safety skills in the survival lessons, Lana Whitehead, president and owner of SWIMkids USA, said.

“The lesson plans are ordered in a step-by-step plan of development where one skill is built upon another in proper order. There is a skill set associated with advancement into each new level. The skills are practiced over and over so that the child learns them to the automatic level. Continuity is very important in water safety lessons. A young child can easily forget his/her skills if he/she swims less that once a week or takes long breaks in-between lessons,” she said.

The goal for SWIMkids USA’s water safety lessons — called survival lessons — is to prepare the child for an emergency situation if they fall in the water accidentally, Whitehead said.

“When a child learns to hold his/her breath, kick to the surface and then roll over onto his/her back, he/she can rest, breathe and call or yell for help. The child is ready to learn the swim-float-swim sequence. When the student falls in the water he/she is trained to climb to the top of the water, rotate to his/her back for a short rest period. Then he/she rolls in a horizontal position onto his/her stomach, then rolls onto his/her back to rest and continues a swim-float-swim sequence until he/she reaches the safety of the wall or steps and climbs out. Thousands of children in California, Arizona and Florida continue to be saved by this proven technique,” she said.

Apache Junction event

A free April Pools Day event will be held 10 a.m.-noon Saturday, April 22, at the Superstition Shadows Aquatic Center, 1091 W. Southern Ave. in Apache Junction. It includes a medical helicopter landing at 9:45 a.m., water-safety activities, life jacket education, tours of emergency vehicles, open swim 11 a.m.-noon and free lunch served by Superstition Fire and Medical District.

There will not be timed tickets for COVID-19 pandemic spacing concerns like the 2022 April Pools Day event.

“This year we will not require registration. Community members will be able to come any time between 10 a.m. and noon to learn all about water safety and from 11 a.m.-noon we will have open swim for participants,” Apache Junction Recreation Assistant Anuta said.

“This year April Pools Day will look a lot like older years prior to COVID where community members will be able to learn about water safety and sun safety in the parking lot outside of the aquatic center. Inside the aquatic center we will host mini swim lessons and other concepts like ‘reach and throw, don’t go’ where water is required to execute the purpose well,” he said.

City lifeguards will be in and around the water at the April Pools Day event.

”This event — like all our aquatic events — allows our lifeguards to interact with all ages and encourage water-safety education in and around water. The majority of people who will take advantage of swim lessons are children while other concepts like ‘reach and throw’ are equally mixed with adults and youth,” Anuta said.

“Parks and Recreation is the primary host for this event. Apache Junction Police Department and Superstition Fire and Medical District also play vital hosting responsibilities but this event does take place at Superstition Shadows Aquatic Center, which is ran by AJPR. We handle a lot of the logistics and planning as well as manpower for this event,” he said.

April Pools Day has traditionally been the kickoff event to warm weather, family time around the pool, a reminder to keep water fun and to bring attention to the very serious threat of drowning, Gerola, SFMD fire inspector and CPR specialist, said.

“This two-hour event will provide hands-on traditional CPR demos, mini swim lessons, self-rescue concepts, life vest fittings/education, ‘reach and throw, don’t go’ rescue techniques, sun safety, emergency vehicle displays and community safety booths. PHI Air Medical helicopter will land at 9:45 a.m. and a hot dog lunch will be served to all participants,” she said.

“Whether you’re in the backyard, at the lakes and rivers, or enjoying time at the beach — where there’s water, there’s a risk of drowning. The Superstition Fire and Medical District encourages everyone to make drowning prevention a lifelong mission,” Gerola said.

For information, go to the parks and recreation Facebook page @ajparksandrec, the city’s website, call 480-474-5240 or email AJPR@apachejunctionaz.gov.

Mesa event

A free Pre-Summer Splash event offered by the city of Mesa in May includes information and activities about life-jacket safety, the importance of designating a “water watcher” when kids are in and around water, general CPR skills, sun safety and having fun while being safe in the water, Courtney Clay, the city of Mesa’s aquatics supervisor, said.

The free event is 5-7 p.m. Friday, May 19, at Brimhall Aquatic Complex, 4949 E. Southern Ave. in Mesa, with a Dive-In Movie to follow costing $5 from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Mesa had 10 drowning incidents in 2022. Six were children up to age 5, which are in the peds age bracket; and four were adults of 18 and older. Two adults died, according to the Children’s Safety Zone website.

That’s down from 17 drowning incidents in 2021 in Mesa, with 10 peds, one a child aged 6 to 12 and six adults. Four people died — one ped and three adults, it states on a PDF downloaded from childrensafetyzone.com that shows drownings and fatalities statistics since 2003 for the Phoenix metropolitan area by age brackets: Peds 0 to 5 years old, children 6 to 12, teens 13 to 17, and adults 18 and above.

And that was down from the 30 drowning incidents in 2020 in Mesa, with 17 peds, one child, two teenagers and 10 adults. There were eight fatalities — three peds and five adults, it states.

Richard H. Dyer can be reached at rdyer@iniusa.org, or on Twitter @rhdyer. To voice your opinion on this story, connect with us at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.

Richard Dyer
Managing Editor | East Valley
@RHDyer

rdyer@iniusa.org

Meet Richard
Richard Dyer has worked at Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA since 1987, starting his career in Apache Junction as a copy editor and being promoted over the years to work as the editor of the Mesa Independent, news services editor for the East Valley office in Apache Junction, managing editor for the East Valley office, news services editor for the East Valley office and eventually also for the newspapers at INI’s then-Chandler office, managing editor again and as a news editor covering Apache Junction/Gold Canyon and Queen Creek. He helped start the Florence Independent while the news editor covering Apache Junction and Mesa news. In January 2023, he became associate managing editor for the East Valley newspapers and in August 2023 became managing editor for the East Valley newspapers of Chandler/Tempe, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Florence, Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, while also reporting on Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon.  

Community: Since 2009, he has worked as a volunteer to design The Blue Guitar Magazine, Blue Guitar Jr. magazine and Unstrung magazine, which are projects of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts; and since 2014, has been overseeing the art submissions. 

Education: University of Arizona with a master of arts in journalism and a bachelor of science in agricultural communication. Also continuing education at Mesa Community College in welding in a metal art sculpture class.

Random fact: Saw his first tornado on May 31, 2010, which was classified as an EF-2, as part of a stormchasing tour group.

Hobbies: He is an artist of welded-steel sculptures, selling his artwork at juried and non-juried art shows.