dmccarty
Super Star Member
I saw a video in the last week or two of a kid at a small wave pool start to drown. The pool was full of kids and when the child starts to drown, none of the other kids reacted to the child struggling in the water. It took the lifeguard about seven seconds to see the child in trouble and go after the kid which is not a damning statement about the lifeguard. I was really surprised the lifeguard saw the child struggling as fast as he did because the pool was so crowded.
The following is from page 14 of a US Coast Guard publication: http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/cg534/On Scene/OSFall06.pdf.
Below is the video but before watching, go back and read the five behaviors to see how many the child does. I have tried to not leave any clues as to which child is going to get in trouble, so you have to watch the pool knowing that something bad is about to happen but you do not know to which child. You only know a child is going to get into trouble and then be rescued.
[video=youtube;L0KTqPloUiU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=L0KTqPloUiU[/video]
I counted seven Mississippi's from the time the child gets into trouble before the lifeguard jumps into the pool. Step 5 says one only has 20-60 seconds and it took the Lifeguard seven to jump into the water and a few more seconds to get the child. What was scary to me is that if the child had breathed in water, and sunk to the bottom of the pool, it would have been very hard to see the kid because of the number of people in the pool.
The child is surrounded by other people, including another child who was playing with the kid who starts to drown and NONE of them reacted to the child. The drowning child's playmate just watched and did not know what was happening. Lifeguards who are supposed to know these behaviors, have watched people drown when they thought they were playing.
Later,
Dan
The following is from page 14 of a US Coast Guard publication: http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/cg534/On Scene/OSFall06.pdf.
Characteristics of the Instinctive Drowning Response:
1. Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary, or overlaid, function. Breathing must be fulfilled, before speech occurs.
2. Drowning people's mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people's mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.
3. Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water,
permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.
4. Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.
5. From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people's bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.
Below is the video but before watching, go back and read the five behaviors to see how many the child does. I have tried to not leave any clues as to which child is going to get in trouble, so you have to watch the pool knowing that something bad is about to happen but you do not know to which child. You only know a child is going to get into trouble and then be rescued.
[video=youtube;L0KTqPloUiU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=L0KTqPloUiU[/video]
I counted seven Mississippi's from the time the child gets into trouble before the lifeguard jumps into the pool. Step 5 says one only has 20-60 seconds and it took the Lifeguard seven to jump into the water and a few more seconds to get the child. What was scary to me is that if the child had breathed in water, and sunk to the bottom of the pool, it would have been very hard to see the kid because of the number of people in the pool.
The child is surrounded by other people, including another child who was playing with the kid who starts to drown and NONE of them reacted to the child. The drowning child's playmate just watched and did not know what was happening. Lifeguards who are supposed to know these behaviors, have watched people drown when they thought they were playing.
Later,
Dan