Teach Your Kids... What to do if they see someone who needs help?

Last week, the National Drowning Prevention Alliance published a statistic from the Total Aquatic Programming's Drowning Data that showed there were 46 registered drowning incidences in November 2021. With drowning statistics still so higher, there could be a time where you and your family are out enjoying a day at the pool or beach and recognize that someone needs help. Educating yourself and teaching your children about what to do if they see someone who needs help could not only save that person's life, it could also help ensure their own safety while helping someone in need.

​Here are some tips and information you can teach your children about what to do if they notice someone who is in distress while in the water.

How to recognize someone who needs help?

There are many common signs for someone who is in distress. Knowing these signs and signals could prevent a distressed person become a fatal statistic.
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​Common signs of someone who is in distress are:

• calling for help
  
• struggling to keep their head above water
  
• failing their arms up and down to try and keep their head above water
  
• not making any forward progress
  
• body is vertical in the water
  
• coughing or choking on water
  
• unresponsive, face up or face down in the water

Who you need to call and what you need to say?

If there an ever an emergency either in the water or on land, it's important to teach your little ones who to call and what they should tell that person.

Teach your little one to call 911 if there is ever an emergency. Be sure to explain what an emergency is. We recommend teaching your children that an emergency is a situation that is a risk to your life, health, or home. We recommend you tailor this definition to meet the developmental ages of your children.

​It's important to teach your little ones what they should tell the 911 operator that picks up the phone. 911 operators are trained to ask questions that will help them determine what responders are needed at the scene. By teaching your children what to tell the 911 operator, it could contribute to faster response times. Teach your children to provide the following information:

• state their name
  
• state their location
  
• state who needs help
  
• describe what they know happened or what they see

What can you do while waiting for help to arrive?

There are sometimes in which EMS has a longer response time due to the location of the incident. If your children see someone who is in need of help and know that it may take some time before EMS or a trained rescuer responds to the emergency, there are safe ways they can respond that could save a life. It's just as important to practice the following responses as it is to talk about them. Practicing these top three safest ways to respond to a water emergency will ensure their safety while helping someone in distress. ​

Top three safest ways to help someone in distress:

1. REACH: Reach an object, hand, or leg out to the person in distress. Objects such as tubes, noodles, and sticks make great reaching devices. As you are reaching an object out to the person in distress, try to stay low to the ground and keep at least three points of contact on the ground to prevent yourself from falling in!
2. THROW: sometimes the person in distress is too far away from you and reaching something out to them won't work. In this situation, you can throw a floatation device out to them. Be sure to have a rope attached to your floatation device so you can pull them back in. We recommend always bringing lifejackets and a throwbag (a bag attached to a long rope) with you when swimming in open water in case of an emergency. Some great throwable floatation devices are lifejackets, tubes, noodles, ring buoys, and throwbags. When throwing a floatation device out to someone in distress, be sure to throw the object to the side and just past them, that way you can start pulling the object back in as they grab on to pull them to safety.
3. ROW: There may be instances where a person in distress is far away from shore or from where you are. ONLY IF YOU ARE TRAINED TO OPERATE A ROWBOAT OR MOTORIZED CRAFT, you could row or drive out to the distressed person. ​​

Each situation will vary and the approach you choose will be based on where the person in distress is. Regardless of the situation, it's important to remember that you should NEVER go in the water to rescue someone unless you are a certified lifeguard or rescuer. Accidents happen and we don't want you to become another fatal static while trying to help someone in need. Certified lifeguards and trained rescuers have specialized training to help them safely rescue someone in distress.
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Rescuing someone who is in distress and using a reach, throw, or row approach when a trained lifeguard or rescuer is not around could save a life. If a person in distress is not rescued, they will drown. There could be a time where your children notice someone in distress. Let's teach them the tools they need to safely save a life.

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