Child’s Death and Another’s Near Drowning

[Child’s Death and Another’s] Near Drowning Reminder of Pool Safety
http://www.kvbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=6610531&nav=15MV

June 4, 2007 09:17 PM

A 3-year-old boy is on life support after falling into his family's pool. It happened Sunday at a home near Jones and Cheyenne. Police say he was left alone for just a few moments when he fell into the pool.

On average, authorities say they respond to ten drownings a year here in the valley. Which is why water safety is so important, especially for families who have pools in their backyards.
Experts can't stress the ABC&D's of water safety enough:

A - Adult supervision
B - Barriers, which include fences and gates
C - Classes: Swimming classes for the kids and CPR for mom and dad.
D - Devices, such a life jackets and keeping a phone nearby.

For one local couple getting the message across to parents is very personal.

"Timmy was out playing out in the backyard," Lonnie Noble explains. "We had an above ground pool and we had no ladder to the pool assuming that it was safe; that he wouldn't get in."

But 18-month-old Timmy did manage to get into the pool. "He was floating in the pool and I pulled him out and started CPR," Lonnie says. "Timmy lived for eight years. He was severely handicapped due to the lack of oxygen to the brain. He was pretty much like an infant child."

It's been nineteen years since that tragic accident and nine since Timmy passed away.

At the time of the accident, Joe Noble was a deputy fire marshal for the Clark County Fire Department and the Nobles now make it their mission to get the word out about water safety. The Nobles are all for putting up safety barriers around the pool but stress there's no substitute for constant adult supervision.

For parents who think it can't happen to them, the Nobles have this message:

"I guess we would be one of those parents who said it wasn't going to happen that's why we took the ladder out of the pool we felt the pool was a safer place."

The Nobles also want to remind parents that your pool isn't the only place a child can drown at home. Bath tubs and even buckets of waters are also threats.

It's also important to remember that drownings don't only happen during the summer months. Which is why constant adult supervision year round is so important.