Every year numerous lives are lost unfortunately due to drowning incidents. It's important
that we know how to help somebody safely when they show signs that they might be drowning.
The first thing to think about is recognizing a true drowning victim. Many times we think
that they yell for help, which is not the case. In many times, they're so scared and
they're already gulping water they can't actually scream out. So their head's kind
of bobbing, their hands are flailing but tend not to make any noise. We need to understand
what a drowning victim looks like. Once we've identified that we're gonna use this following
system to safely rescue a potentially drowning victim. We reach, we throw but we don't go,
which means we don't swim out to them because that's the number 1 way to become a second
victim. Unless you're a trained and certified lifeguard that knows how to do than safely
we should only be reaching and throwing to rescue a drowning victim. So let's show you
how that works. Almost always there's towels around the pool or lake. What a towel allows
us to do is extend our arm. But before we use that let's say that the person, and I've
got a helper here to demonstrate, is just a little way away from the side of the pool.
As she's out there I can go to this side of the pool and reach my hand out. If she can
reach my hand I stay low to the ground, I keep my center of gravity low, I can pull
this person to safety so that they can climb out. Or they can maybe go down to a ladder
walking down the side of the pool until they can get to a ladder and climb up themselves.
But what if they're a little further away and I can't reach them. My helper is gonna
go out just a little further, we're going to kind of swirl this towel around to make
it more of like a rope and now I'm going to swing it one end of it out to the potentially
drowning victim. They grab the towel and I draw in and once they're to the side I help
them out of the water. But now let's say that they're even further out and I can't reach
them even with a towel. In many cases the pool has this kind of pole nearby for rescuing
purposes. But what if it's a private pool and they're not required to have a life saving
pole. We'll check for a leaf skimmer. Most leaf skimmers have a pole so that they can
reach the center area. That pole tends to be able to telescope in and out. So as far
as they're out you can maybe extend the pole and then retighten it so that you can reach
the actual drowning victim. Now let's see what this looks like as I try to use this
pole to help save a victim who's out even further. Why don't you go out a little bit
further and we'll show them how it's done. But now in this case my posture changes. I
stand up, I put my forward leaning foot out and I lean my weight back against my rear
leg, so that I have a counterbalance as I begin to pull this person in. Instead of jabbing
them with the pole I extend it out and I lower it down beside the victim. Now they grab the
pole and as I pull I lean back and I bring them to the side of the pool where I can then
assist them out of the pool into safety. But it gets worse. What if now they're so far
out I can't reach them with a pole or I don't have a pole. All I have is a life jacket or
maybe even a noodle, which is really not meant to save a life. But if it's all I have and
it floats I'm gonna use it to throw to them so that they have something to help buy them
some time. But if I had a choice I would rather use something that's certified as a life saving
device and will actually help keep them up above the water so that they can puddle to
safety or buy us time for emergency rescue services to help get them out of the pool.
This next demonstration will show you how this looks like. It might help to go out a
little bit further...I'm gonna take the flotation device and now I'm going to throw it out into
the vicinity of the flailing person. So they start flailing and I throw it out to them
and they grab on to it. Now I'm gonna teach them to kick their feet: kick your feet, come
to the side of the pool, keep coming, keep coming, you're doing great! Good job, way
to go! And now I can help them out of the pool into safety. If you're concerned that
they took in some water and they're coughing keep EMS on the way so that we can check their
breath sounds and make sure they don't have an aspiration pneumonia developing. If it
was a drowning where they're unresponsive and pulled out of the water, that's when we're
gonna begin CPR. Remember, call 911 as soon as you think there's an emergency. If it's
resolved you can always send them away. But if it's a real emergency you can never speed
them back up. These are some tips on how to help save people when they're having fun
in the sun or at the side of the pool.