Near Drowning Reported at Philadelphia Apartment Complex

The Memorial Day holiday almost ended in tragedy after a near drowning occurred at an apartment complex’s pool Monday afternoon.

According to NBC Philadelphia, the incident occurred at approximately 1:30 p.m. at the Summit Park apartments on Henry Avenue, just northwest of Roxborough. The victim was swimming in just three feet of water, the report says. Rescue crews responded to the scene, but the identity and condition of the swimmer has not been released.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is urging families to take precautions to avoid drownings at residential and community pools as summer approaches. According to the agency’s statistics, there were 397 reported fatal child drownings in pools and spas in 2010 involving children younger than 15, with 302 involving children younger than five.

Those figures went down to 364 and 279, respectively, for 2012. Government data also indicates that between 2010 and 2012 the majority (55 percent) of the fatalities involving children younger than 15 occurred in in-ground pools, with portable pools accounting for seven percent of the reported fatalities. The majority of fatal drownings (75 percent) occurred in residential pools.

CPSC staff have estimated 5,400 pool- or spa-related hospital emergency department treated non-fatal drownings each year from 2012 through 2014 involving children younger than 15. This is an increase from the agency’s last report, which showed an average estimated 4,900 non-fatal drownings each year from 2011 through 2013.

The following steps are recommended to keep children safer in and around the water:

• Never leave a child unattended in a pool or spa and always watch your children closely around all bodies of water.
• Designate a Water Watcher to supervise children in the pool or spa. This person should not be reading, texting, using a smart phone or be otherwise distracted.
• Learn how to swim, and teach your child how to swim.
• Learn how to perform CPR on children and adults.
• Keep children away from pool drains, pipes and other openings to avoid entrapments.
• Ensure any pool and spa you use has drain covers that comply with federal safety standards, and if you do not know, ask your pool service provider about safe drain covers.