Cincinnati Safe Kids Coalition Announces Water Safety Campaign
CINCINNATI –- A record number of childhood near-drownings this summer has prompted the Cincinnati Safe Kids Coalition to initiate a public service campaign emphasizing the importance of adult supervision in preventing drownings and near-drownings in the Cincinnati area.
"The number of children treated at Children's Hospital Medical Center for water-related injuries so far in 1999 (30 as of Aug. 10) has already surpassed full-year totals for every other year this decade," says Victor Garcia, M.D., director of Cincinnati Children's Trauma Services. "It's imperative for the coalition to try to prevent drownings from occurring in the future, not only in swimming pools but in the home as well."
"No child should ever be unattended where there is water," adds Sheryl Allen, M.D., an Emergency Medicine physician at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and a Cincinnati Safe Kids Coalition member. "It's not a cliché to say that a child can drown in an inch of water in a tub or a bucket. It's a reality -– but one that can be prevented."
Campaign components include radio, television and print announcements and the distribution of 100,000 brochures on water safety -- all with the message, "Two seconds is too long" to take your eyes off a child who is around water.
The materials contain information on ways to prevent a child from drowning at home, at a swimming pool and in the open water. Media outlets are asked to run the message through September.
The Cincinnati Safe Kids Coalition is a community-based, grassroots initiative of the National Safe Kids Campaign focused on the prevention of unintentional childhood injuries through public education, community programming, safety product distribution, legislation, media outreach, local injury data collection and local program evaluation.
Cincinnati Children's is the lead organization of the coalition. Other members include city of Cincinnati police and fire departments, Cincinnati City Council, the Cincinnati Recreation Commission, the Foster Grandparent Program, Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc., the Children and Families Learning Institute, the Children's Defense Fund, and the Hamilton County General Health District.
For more information about water safety or the Cincinnati Safe Kids Coalition, please call 513-636-8639, or visit the coalition' Web site at www.cincisafekids.org.
Contact Information
Jim Feuer,
jfeuer@chmcc.org
