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Water Safety

Drowning

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TV Segment

Thomas DeWitt, MD, FAAP, Director of General and Community Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's, answers Family FAQs on Channel 12, WKRC. On May 27, 2004, he answered a question about Pool Safety. Watch this segment:

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Teaching your child to swim at a young age is a good preventative measure.

Drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children ages 14 and under according to Cincinnati Children's Safe Kids Coalition, led by Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. This is particularly tragic because 100 percent of these cases are preventable.

Most accidental drownings and near drownings occur in residential swimming pools. However, children may drown in as little as one to two inches of water. These drownings frequently occur in bath tubs, buckets, toilets, diaper pails and wading pools.

Adult supervision is critical in the prevention of drownings. Taking an eye off a child in the water for as little as two seconds puts a child at risk for drowning.

Rev. 2/06