EMSA Emphasizes Water Safety To Prevent 'Silent Killer'

With the extreme heat and the upcoming Fourth of July holiday, the Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) teamed up with Oklahoma Swim Academy to emphasize the importance of water safety.

Oklahoma Swim Academy demonstrated to News 9 some of the skills its instructors teach its young students to help prevent drownings.

"As soon as that child is mobile, then they're crawling, that's when we say let's get them in the water," said Megan Bachman, founder of Oklahoma Swim Academy. "They're going to do the rollback skill, which is if a child were to fall in, they learn to roll to their back and float, and that's how they save themselves. After they do that, they can wait if they're an infant until someone comes and picks them up. Or if they're old enough, they learn to swim, float, swim."

Among the children learning those skills was 18-month-old Thomas. His mom, Megan Fitzell, used to work in an emergency room.

"I got to see firsthand the effects of near-drowning and drowning cases in kids," said Fitzell. "So it was something that is really near and dear to my heart."

Bachman said her instructors also educate parents to be within an arm's reach of their children at all times.

"We teach all of our kids that we don't get in the pool unless we have an adult with us," said Bachman. "We have them say it back to us. We make sure that we implement that in our swim lessons as well."

EMSA said drowning is the leading cause of unintentional deaths for children ages 1 to 4 and is referred to as a "silent killer" because it can happen suddenly and without sound.

"They're not going to be thrashing around. They're not going to be screaming for help," explained Andrew Watson, a clinical services specialist with EMSA. "They're going to be kind of, almost immobile. They're going to be upright, sometimes just kind of bobbing there. Their heads are going to be - just their eyes out of the water. Sometimes, their mouth is under, their hair could be over their face. Generally, someone who looks like they might be hyperventilating or just really not putting a lot of effort in or someone who's putting a lot of effort in and not getting very far."

Watson said if you see someone showing those signs, call out to that person to see if they need help. 

If the person is struggling or unresponsive, get them out of the water immediately, either by swimming them to safety yourself or using a long tool like a pool skimmer. Sometimes, the timeframe to help is 30 seconds or less, Watson said. Call 911 and administer CPR if necessary.

If the person is not breathing and has no pulse, perform CPR with hard and fast compressions.

"You want to go about 2 inches down at a rate of about 110 beats a minute," Watson said. "You're not going to be doing it alone. EMSA dispatch will walk you through the entire time."

Watson said bending your arms while performing CPR will cause more fatigue. 

"My arms are straight, my back is straight, and I'm coming down and using the weight of my body to perform compressions," said Watson. "You want to make sure you're going down good and then you're coming up to allow full chest recoil so the heart can refill."

Watson said if the victim is a small child, like a baby, chest compressions can be done with two fingers instead of the full palm.