
Amelia and Clara, seven-year-old twins, are learning their swim strokes from instructor Kristin Bolick. The North Central sisters want to swim on the city of Phoenix swim team next year (submitted photo).
They don’t talk about it much. But the stories are there. Just under the surface. Painful and sad.
Todd Keller, firefighter and public information officer for Phoenix Fire Department said, “After a while, it’s just one big, horrible drowning in your head. I have lost count of how many drowning calls I’ve been on. Firetruck roars up and we bail out to find yet another frantic parent and lifeless child. People say time heals. I say, yeah. Right. Try it. Let me know how that works for you.” His voice is weary.
This year, the number of pediatric drownings alone, that’s children ages 0 to 5 years, has already surpassed the 2023 number, with seven fatalities so far in 2024. That is also above the 11-year average. And the Labor Day holiday is on the horizon. Yet the City of Phoenix has what is recognized as one of the strictest pool and hot tub safety ordinances in the nation, but children continue to drown. The ordinance was enacted in 1990 and got national attention. The strict ordinance covers barrier, gate and cover requirements. For details, call 602-262-7884 or go to the city of Phoenix website at www.phoenix.gov and search “pool barriers.”
Billboards, social media, TV and radio and advertisements from hospitals, water safety instructors and families affected by drowning remind us: “Two seconds is too long.” “Designate a water watcher.” “Teach your kids to swim.” Decades of free swim lessons, free pool fences and a nightly reminder from a friendly weather man, who made it his mission to raise drowning prevention awareness, ending every weather report with “Watch those kids around water.”
And on and on and on.
So, what can we learn?
North Central News spoke with parents, swim instructors, nurses, physicians, first responders and kids. Here is what they want residents to know.
“No child is ever totally safe around water. Layers of protection are the best approach. Teach them to survive in the water at an early age. Never ever let your guard down. Ensure barriers like fences, self-locking gates and alarms are in place,” said Keller. “Teach your kids, and model it for them, that no one should ever be alone in a pool. I am a swim instructor and when I am in the pool, awaiting arrival of a student, I get out and wait for them away from the water.”
A North Central mother of four swimmers who are now young adults said, “Remember that kids are growing and learning every day. The latch on the gate they couldn’t reach last week is now reachable. Or today they realize they can drag a chair over to it and climb to unlock it. Once they are good swimmers, don’t allow them to get over-confident and start horseplay and running on the deck. That’s the next phase of water safety.”
Many water safety experts echo the advice of Phoenix Fire Department. “Designate a water watcher when there are people in the pool. That person can be designated with a hat or something that reminds him and others that he is the designated watcher.”
“A common drowning scenario is when there are several adults in the pool with kids,” said Keller. “I think you’re watching and you think I’m watching, and kids drown that way, surrounded by adults who love them. The water watcher needs to stand up to really watch every inch of the water. When you sit, you cannot see the edge of the water. And it should go without saying: Don’t drink and think you are safe around water, or that you can supervise kids. Just don’t do it. Even a little bit.”
North Central native Kristin Bolick works in the Emergency Department at HonorHealth North Mountain and is a lifeguard and teaches swim lessons. She emphasized, “Water wings are dangerous. Don’t use them. They give kids and supervising adults a false sense of security. They come off and the child slips under the water, often without a sound. Don’t mistake water toys for life preservers.”
Bolick added, “Learn CPR and have a phone at the pool so you can call 9-1-1 the instant there is a problem. Have rescue equipment at poolside.”
Sunnyslope High School head swim coach Cameron Licht brings special insight to working with kids who reluctant to learn to swim.
“Your kids are afraid of the water? Make peer pressure work for your child… ‘Come on, let’s learn to swim so you can join the other kids.’ Anxious kids often respond to that parental or instructor tactic. My parents were adamant that my sister and I learn to swim.”
Licht grew up in North Central Phoenix and coaches 80 students at Sunnyslope. During summer months, he coaches younger students, using his own experience to help the anxious ones gain skills and confidence.
“I was really afraid of the water as a little kid. And to think that now I’m teaching and coaching swimming — it shows you that even an anxious kid like me can overcome it and enjoy water sports.”
Bolick becomes quiet for a moment when she talks about water safety.
“Every first responder and emergency room worker — we have stories we don’t want to talk about. The ones whose bodies we have saved but whose brains are forever impaired. There is blame and anger and sadness and families are changed forever. I hear about yet another drowning and I cry. We all do.”