Water safety — including the use of life jackets, designating someone to watch when kids are in and around water, and sun safety — will be explained to families participating in a free May event offered by the city of Mesa.
Mesa residents also can learn water safety at city parks and recreation or fire and medical programs, or from private businesses such as SWIMkids USA.
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, which collaborates with local fire departments, hospitals and the media to gather statistics on drowning incidents.
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.
Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death for children ages 1 to 4, surpassing vehicle crash deaths for the same ages, Michele Long, Mesa fire and life safety education administrator, said.
“In Mesa, more adults than children drown; it’s important that you never swim alone at any age and that all ages learn to swim. Medical emergencies for older adults can happen in the water with higher consequences than out of the water. What a bystander does at the time of the drowning makes a huge difference. Rescue breaths and compression are extremely important to start immediately on a patient as soon as they are pulled out of the water, even before emergency crews arrive on the scene,” she said.
“When you call 911, they can guide you through the steps to perform CPR. It’s important to understand that the term near drowning is incorrect. The patient has drowned and is experiencing a hypoxic brain injury. The correct usage of wording is fatal or non-fatal drowning,” Long said.
“We recommend these classes for all caregivers and encourage new parents to take a class,” Long said. “We offer water safety classes for children — preschool and up — to learn the rules of being safe around water. For example, not going in the water without adult supervision.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends swimming lessons for children over 1 year of age, Long said.
“In addition to swimming classes for youth it is important for all caregivers to know how to swim and the correct way to supervise children around the water. Please refer to (Mesa Parks, Recreation & Community Facilities) aquatics for swim class schedules. They also offer scholarships,” she said.
The Mesa Parks, Recreation & Community Facilities website is mesaparks.com.
Pre-Summer Splash
A free Pre-Summer Splash event offered by the city 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’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.
Clay said the city of Mesa focuses on the ABC’s of water safety. They are:
A: Adult supervision: Constant eye-to-eye supervision is one of the most important steps in drowning prevention. Make sure there is always an adult assigned to supervise children around any water, especially at parties. Floaties or other floating toys are not substitutes for constant supervision.
B: Barriers: Pool fences in good repair are critical to prevent children from entering the pool area unsupervised. Make sure that latches are in good working order and that there are not any objects close to the fence that could be used to climb on.
C: Classes: CPR classes should be taken by anyone who is supervising a child in any setting, but especially around water. Enrolling children in swim lessons is another line of defense against child drowning.
Learning how to swim
The city of Mesa offers swim lessons late March through August/early September, Clay said.
“Being water safe begins in the very first swim lesson and continues through all swim lessons. Safety topics are part of every swim lesson,” she said.
City of Mesa pools will open for public swim starting Memorial Day weekend. The cost for public swim is $2 for children and seniors age 55 and older, and $4 for adults.
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.
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
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.
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