Splash into Safety

On hot summer days in Texas, it is almost impossible to avoid a refreshing trip to the pool. For kids especially, the pool becomes their new playgrounds as they use their imagination to invent water games with their friends and spend hours splashing around. However, more often than not, water safety at pools are either ignored or never taught. The Y has partnered with Children's Health to promote the Safety Around Water Program. This program takes YMCA lifeguard mobile teams to different apartments around Dallas to teach basic water safety and assess a child's ability to swim. The kids receive a free swimsuit and spend time with lifeguards in the pool to test their swimming and safety knowledge. Mother of two, Eji Zeleke at Forest Garden apartments explains that " I have no worries when I know that my children are properly trained. I really encourage everyone to go through this program to make sure you are taught the right way. Now, I am not worried when I am sitting by the pool because I know he is trained and is doing well..."  

 

Kids Swimming At Johnson's Outpost
Safety Around Water White Rock

We asked Jesus Alderete, Senior Program Coordinator at Children's Health and head of Safety Around Water to share a few insights about the program.

Tell me about your involvement with Know Before You Go and Safety Around Water:

"I am the Program coordinator for Children's Health. I am in charge of presentations and programs to reduce drowning."

 

What impact do you think these programs have on kids and the families?

"The impact of this type of program is effective when parents participate and retain the necessary information to be prepared in and around the water."

 

Why do you think these programs are important and should have more people knowing about them?

"Yes, this type of program helps reinforce the importance of knowing how to care for children in and around water. The information parents hear is things parents already knew but not necessarily how to use it."

 

Do you have any personal connections, stories, or memories involving safety around water?

"Yes, every day I consult with family in our hospital, Children's Health. Unfortunately, the stories of patients who are admitted by drowning are similar. Children in the pool with an adult present or nearby but neglected for a couple of minutes and that was enough for their children to suffer an incident. That is what we try to change every year, the importance of always watching the children when they are near or around the water."

 

 

If you would like to know more about water safety, visit: YMCA Safety Around Water

 

Authored: Colleen McCauley, 2018 YMCA Dallas Storyteller Intern