Our mission at North Jersey Aquatics is to always promote water safety and prevent accidental drowning. The statistics and facts on drowning are scary and necessary to know.
Here are a few Drowning Facts to know (Source: National Drowning Prevention Alliance):
- In the U.S. drowning takes an average of 3,500-4,000 lives per year. That is an average of 10 fatal drownings per day.
- Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional injury related death for children ages 1-4. Drowning remains in the top 5 causes of unintentional injury related death from birth to 54 years old.
- In addition to fatal drownings, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that in 2016 an additional 9,000+ victims were seen at U.S. Emergency Departments for a non-fatal submersion injury.
- 23% of child drownings happen during a family gathering near a pool.
- Lack of barriers around water contribute to a majority of drowning deaths.
- Learning to swim can reduce the risk of drowning by 88% for 1-4 year olds who take formal swim lessons.
- No one is drown-proof and drowning doesn’t discriminate.
- Drug and alcohol use can be large contributing variables to drowning risk.
- Drowning is the cause of death for most boating fatalities.
- It is estimated that for every fatal drowning victim, another 5 to 10 victims receives hospital related care for non-fatal drowning injuries.
- Drowning is fast and silent. It can happen in as little as 20-60 seconds. Drowning doesn’t always look like we would expect.
Introducing our NJAC Water Watcher Card:
When children are swimming and there are several adults present, be sure that all the children are supervised by designating a Water Watcher. A Water Watcher is a responsible adult who promises to watch the kids in the water without any distractions. Give the designated Water Watcher this card as a physical reminder to be present. After a decided amount of time, the Water Watcher card is passed to another adult, who is responsible for the active supervision.
🏊♂️ Here is a free printable of our Water Watcher card, and we will also be giving out Water Watcher cards to all parents during lessons. If you are not swimming with us this session, but would like a physical Water Watcher card, please feel free to call us and arrange to pick one up at our Chester office. We wish our NJAC family a fun and safe pool season!
Click to print–
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