Alissa Mangrum: Water should be fun. It should be something that we enjoy, but it really
needs to be respected. And we need to be safe in and around it, then it can be fun. If you
don't pay attention to the dangers that water does have to offer, then it can be tragic.
Daddy Clay: In some parts of the country, the weather is warming up. Families are headed
out to the pool and to the lake so it's time to talk once again about water safety. Today's
episode's brought to you by BabyBjorn. You know, that Travel Crib Light is so easy to
move around with, you can take it to the beach, the pool. BabyBjorn. So to get more information
and some tips on practicing excellent water safety, we talked to Alissa Magrum of Colin's
Hope. Alissa: In Texas alone, drowning is the leading
cause of unintentional injury related deaths so really preventable death, for kids ages
1 to 4. And it's the second leading cause for kids 1 to 14. Under 4 is the biggest age
group. And we're not talking just pools. We're talking pools, and lakes, but also bathtubs
and toilets and kiddie pools. You can drown in this much water. And so, thinking about
it who would have thought that a toilet or a bathtub. You look at the data and you look
at the number of drownings and that there are numerous drownings in bathtubs. Water
needs to be respected. And parents need to understand you can't leave your kid unattended
even for 3 seconds in the bathtub to go answer the phone or in a pool by themselves or near
water even for seconds because something can happen. And I used to think drowning looked
like this, "Ahh!". Screaming for help, waving of the arms, and sometimes it can look like
that but a lot of times it can be a silent thing where a kid slips under the water or
a person slips under the water and without yelling, without screaming, and in a matter
of seconds. So, if you're constantly visually watching a child, hopefully it won't get to
that point where you have to pull them out and do CPR. Which is another message that
we talk to parents about is learn CPR, know it, refresh your skills, keep your certifications
up to date. It's not just wearing life jackets. It's not just those things individually. It's
everything together makes us not have to get to the part where we're pulling a kid out
of the water. My daughter went to preschool with Colin and when Colin drowned, it became
wow, this is something that I didn't even think about drowning as an issue that would
affect me. And it really can affect you and will probably affect your or someone you know.
And the message is, our key message is nobody is drown-proof. I don't care if it's me. I
can go swim four miles, but I don't swim alone. Well, they can go to our website, which is
colinshope.org. And we are re-adding some more resources and building it, really want
it to be a rich site where people can not only find out about the realities of drowning
and some drowning facts about, what the statistics are, thing like that. But really, simple things
they can do to keep their kids and their families safe so they can have fun in the water. Another
website is poolsafely.gov, which is a campaign by the federal government and they offer a
lot of water safety tips as well and we're gonna have a big resource section with some
links to other web sites and things like that. But really it's simple things that you can
do. It's not that complicated. And it's really about our mission is raising awareness just
about water safety and how to be safe and drowning prevention because drowning is preventable.
These are out biggest messages. Drowning is preventable. Nobody is drown-proof. And it's
simple things that you can do that can avoid drownings from happening and even let's not
get to the CPR part although we encourage it, let's not get there. Let's prevent it
from the start because it is preventable. Daddy Clay: Another issue to bear in mind
when it comes to water safety - foreclosed homes. The downturn in the economy has definitely
created a hazard for kids all across this country. Foreclosed homes that have pools
that are not being maintained. Fences break down. Kids can get access to these pools.
And they are extremely dangerous. If there are foreclosed homes in your neighborhood,
make sure to warn your kids to stay away from them and do yourself a favor and check and
make sure that the fences are in good shape. If they're not, report it to the bank that
owns the home. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you next time here in The Lab.