Hey, August! Hi!
My name is August and I'm six. I'm in kindergarten.
Happy birthday to you.
Make a wish. Yay!
August can you tell us what you like about swimming?
I like how you can
go underwater and use your goggles.
You swim under water a lot, don't you
And you love swimming every day? Uh huh. Yeah.
Hi, August! Hi!
My name is Casey and
for a career, I'm a hospice nurse
In March of 2017, I was in Costa Rica
August had been to Costa Rica three times already. He'd been to this property. He knew
safety measures and we had a safety talk, a couple of safety talks that day. But anyway, March 9th of
2017, August had a near drowning incident while we were in Costa Rica in my friend's pool.
Two of my friends that were there were nurses and performed CPR and
August made a recovery,
perfect recovery.
We spent one night in the hospital in Costa Rica and the day that I got back from Costa Rica
I called the Y and I scheduled him for private swim lessons.
And so we spent a minimum of 30 minutes at the pool five days a week.
He had two different private instructors at the Y. They taught you how to swim right? I had two teachers.
Miss Yvonne and Miss Susan.
And within five weeks, he learned how to swim with no flotation devices.
Great job!
Before the kids even get in the pool, we talked about safety.
We teach the children how to recognize what the lifeguard looks like. We teach them to swim to the wall, to
turn over onto their backs when they get tired.
So that if they are in a situation where they've fallen into the pool,
it comes naturally to them to look for a wall or to look to a landline to look for something to help themselves
get out of the pool.
So, what would you say to another kid who doesn't know how to swim?
I would say, "face your fear".
He was so enthusiastic
Everything I asked him to do he wanted to try. He was never afraid to put his face in the water. He was never
hesitant to kick or paddle or anything.
I think the lesson here is I want everyone to know how important it is to teach their kids to swim.
It doesn't take long, but it takes some dedication, and just a few weeks
could save someone else from drowning.
Teach your kids to swim!
Bye!