Jay Adams
Contributor
thank you for posting this, you never know how it could change your life to know someone drowned...
Drowning Doesn't Look Like Drowning
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NativeWannabe
Registered
This is very valuable. Thanks for posting. If it helps one person, it’s worth it.
I remember the first body recovery i did with my current department and it didn’t sit well with me. The call started with a missing 16 year old boy who had been last seen about 45 minutes prior swimming beyond the beach area where there were some short rock walls that kids jumped from. After a short search I found the body in 15’ of water right under the location he was last seen.
What bothered me the most was that interviews afterward revealed that numerous people had seen him struggling in that location and never offered to help or even check on him. Then all the reports from bystanders said “when I looked again and didn’t see him, i assumed he got out”.
This took place at a popular local swimming lake on a memorial day weekend with literally hundreds of people on the beach and in the water. Just goes to show that the untrained eye is waiting to see the Hollywood response, not watching for a kid to slip quietly below the surface…
What bothered me the most was that interviews afterward revealed that numerous people had seen him struggling in that location and never offered to help or even check on him. Then all the reports from bystanders said “when I looked again and didn’t see him, i assumed he got out”.
This took place at a popular local swimming lake on a memorial day weekend with literally hundreds of people on the beach and in the water. Just goes to show that the untrained eye is waiting to see the Hollywood response, not watching for a kid to slip quietly below the surface…
I use this clip when teaching rescue. Nothing like seeing the real thing...
A friend was at a childs birthday pool party for a bunch of Mom's and kids around 5 -7 years olds. The host had an indoor pool for the kids to play in. None of the Mom's were in the pool but all were present alongside. One child in the middle of a group of kids, comes up once, goes down, comes up again then goes underwater silently. No splashing, no sound.
My friend jumps in fully clothed, grabs kid and brings him up. The immediate reaction of the group was why are you ruining the party, until the child explains between their sobs and the Mothers questions what happened.
The rescuer had no lifeguard training, but said that when she saw the childs eyes she knew the child was in trouble.
Mommy power
My friend jumps in fully clothed, grabs kid and brings him up. The immediate reaction of the group was why are you ruining the party, until the child explains between their sobs and the Mothers questions what happened.
The rescuer had no lifeguard training, but said that when she saw the childs eyes she knew the child was in trouble.
Mommy power
I am guessing at the incident you are thinking of, which happened in Florida. There was more to it than that. IIRC, in that case, the captain was below decks preparing lunch when it happened, the crew did not throw a life ring (or do much else) with a stressed diver in the water, and the captain had not held any emergency training drills with the crew. There may have been even more.
The rubber disk in my wife's BCD's shoulder dump came unglued and at some point during the dive fell out of its plastic holder and got wedged between the seat and the plastic of the plug. As a result it was venting air as fast as she could add it on the surface, until she ran out. She was finning to stay afloat, I was a couple of metres directly under her (still had a bit of gas left) and the DM was a couple of metres away from her, talking to the captain.
She did ask the DM for help but she presumably wasn't loud/urgent enough. When I later ask why she didn't ditch weights (with thanks for not dropping them on my head) she said she was about to, when the boat got into position and the DM switched his attention to her.
She didn't sink, nor quit, but was quite shaken and p*ssed off for the rest of the day, and the next morning.
jonhall
Contributor
As a water safety and swimming instructor years ago, I had dismissed a H.S. class from the pool. A boy held back and asked if he could jump off of the diving board one more time. Giving him permission, I stood at the shallow end of the pool watching him. He jumped and as soon as his head popped up he said, "help!" I shouted at him to swim - he went under, came back up and said, "I can't." I shouted again for him to swim, but again he went under, came back up and said, "I can't." I jumped in the shallow end with a kick board and started walking towards him as we went through the shouting of "swim" and his replies of, 'I can't" and "help me" every time his head surfaced. By the time we met, he had reached the shallow end where he could stand. I asked him what had happened since he had previously gone off the board and swam to the side on other occasions - he said he had touched the bottom which he never had done before, which freaked him out. Looked a lot like the boy in @VikingDives video, except in a pool.
Having a pool and a granddaughter, last year when she was 5, I started teaching her how to extend a pole from the deck into the water and how to toss a floating object in the water if grandpa (I make a good dummy) or grandma need help. Also have impressed on her that she is never to jump in the water to try and help someone.
As a lifeguard, the last resort to helping a drowning/panicked swimmer is going to the victim and making physical contact (at least it used to be.) Although I haven't taken the rescue diver course, I "think I know" what I'd do to help someone without endangering myself - this is a good thread to get people thinking and maybe give them the motivation they need to become better prepared (like taking the rescue diver course) for how to respond in the event of a diving situation.
Having a pool and a granddaughter, last year when she was 5, I started teaching her how to extend a pole from the deck into the water and how to toss a floating object in the water if grandpa (I make a good dummy) or grandma need help. Also have impressed on her that she is never to jump in the water to try and help someone.
As a lifeguard, the last resort to helping a drowning/panicked swimmer is going to the victim and making physical contact (at least it used to be.) Although I haven't taken the rescue diver course, I "think I know" what I'd do to help someone without endangering myself - this is a good thread to get people thinking and maybe give them the motivation they need to become better prepared (like taking the rescue diver course) for how to respond in the event of a diving situation.
jonhall
Contributor
Had to follow up since I just posted the above this morning. Our granddaughter was over today and with her on the deck and grandma in the pool, I thought I'd see if she remembered the lesson from last year:
Me: B, if grandma were in trouble right now, what would you do?
B: Tell her I'm sorry!
Priceless!!!
I've taken care of more than a few drowning, or near-drowning child victims (as we call the survivors), and the common thread always seems to be that an adult, or multiple adults, were in or at the side of, the pool when the incident occurs. I dont have published statistics handy to support it, but it seems to happen more often when there are multiple adults are around as everyone assumes someone else is watching the kids. Cellphones and alcohol are often contributing factors.
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