“CBS This Morning” had a live segment on August 27, 2018 featuring Olympian Bodie Miller and his wife Morgan. The Millers lost their 19-month old daughter in a drowning incident in June of this year. On the same day, another parent, Nicole Hughes, lost her 3-year old son Levi in a similar accident where he escaped from the house and drowned in a neighbor’s pool. Both children lost their lives in incidents where they were not expected to even be near a pool.
Last month on the Today show, Bode Miller have his first interview and shared this information with viewers: Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death in children under 4, and 350 children under the age of 5 drown in pools each year nationwide. “Just knowledge alone is a really powerful tool,” Bode said, adding, “These drownings are happening not during swim time. I think, as a parent, those little tidbits of knowledge are things we can share with each other. And once it becomes something everyone’s aware of, we can really prevent these kinds of tragedies. At the end of the day, what happened to us is horrible for us—and I think a lot of people shared our pain in that—but we want to try to not make it happen to other people.”
As the father of three young children, my heart breaks for these parents. When my kids are in the pool, I watch them like a mother Kodiak bear. I insist that they are constantly monitored by a responsible ADULT when they are visiting family members and friends with pools. But we need additional safeguards, in addition to watching our children like a hawk. Swimming pools are a huge target and source of fascination for young children and safeguarding your pool while it is not in use is vital.
- Enclose your swimming pool or yard with a fence that includes self-locking and self-closing gates.
- Keep all doors that lead to the pool locked at all times.
- Consider equipping your pool with a flotation alarm that will signal if someone or something accidentally falls in the water.
- When not in regular use, keep your swimming pool covered.
- Keep toys away from the pool that may entice children and keep all lawn furniture away from the fence to prevent children from climbing over it.
- If possible, always have a telephone near the pool and know your local emergency telephone numbers or 911. Encourage your family to take CPR lessons.
- Consider installing motion detectors and cameras around your pool.
These are just a few steps that you can take to help insure the safety of your loved ones and the safety of children in your neighborhood. If your loved one has been the victim of an accident similar to this, call me, I’ll be there for you and I’ll Make Them Pay!
Author: Tim Misny | For more than 40 Years, personal injury lawyer Tim Misny has represented the injured victim in medical malpractice, and catastrophic injury/wrongful death cases, serving “Cleveland, Akron/Canton, Columbus, Dayton and neighboring communities.” You can reach Tim by email at misnylaw.com/ask-tim-a-question/ or call at 800-556-4769.
