Why a Pool Alarm is Important for Your Swimming Pool
We at AquaSonus researched the problem of child accidental drownings to assist in the development of our pool alarm system.  Published articles on the subject of infant, children and adolescent drowning reveal this is a leading cause of injury death among children and has been an ongoing problem for decades.  Accidental drowning has been the leading cause of accidental injury death in the state of Florida among children aged 1-9 years since 1995.¹  Nationwide it has been the second leading cause of accidental injury related deaths for children aged 1-14 years during the same time period.²   Both NCIPC charts are on our Links to Useful Sites page.

 Consumer Product Safety Commission’s study on drownings of young children in residential pools reported these facts:³
     1). One or both parents were home during 70% of the
          accidents.
     2). Most children were last seen in the home within
           moments of the accident.
     3). Most of the time no screams or splashes were heard.
     4). Only 30% of the child victims were wearing a
           bathing suit.

Dr. Robert Bolte wrote in Contemporary Pediatrics®, a magazine published for pediatric health providers, that toddlers are the group at highest risk of unintentional drowning in private swimming pools.  He states “about 15% of children who survive initially die after admission to the hospital. This rate is remarkably high compared to other injuries. One third of those who are comatose on admission and survive suffer significant neurologic impairment. The annual cost of care for an impaired survivor in a chronic care facility is more than $100,000.”⁴

Recognizing that drowning is a leading cause of injury death among our young children, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has issued two policy statements on the subject in the past few years.  In August of 2003, the AAP issued a formal policy statement advising pediatricians to play an active role in the prevention of drowning as educators and advocates.⁵  This newest policy statement reinforces their previous April 2000 policy, and states that swimming lessons do not provide “drown proofing” for children of any age.⁶  The 2003 policy statement discusses drowning prevention in relation to children in specific age groups and community intervention suggestions for pediatricians.  Copies of their complete policy statements are located on our  Links to Useful Sites page.

According to the AAP “supervision of young children around any water is an essential preventive strategy, but inevitable lapses make supervision alone insufficient.”⁶  The medical community states submersion lasting 5 minutes in warm fresh water usually will cause severe brain damage or death.  A parent, family member or guardian needs to be immediately aware that a child has fallen into an unattended swimming pool to prevent a tragic loss of life or serious injury.  This can only happen when the pool security equipment used is accurate and reliable.  We at AquaSonus believe our passive sonar pool alarm system has met this need.  The AquaSonus™ swimming pool alarm system is the only pool alarm that offers unparalleled detection accuracy and immediate communication of an intrusion event in just seconds.

 

 Sources:
¹ National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, CDC, National Center for Health Statistics "10 Leading Causes of Unintentional Injury Deaths, Florida, ages 1-9, 1995-2001" WISQARS Report.
² National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Office of Statistics and Programming, CDC, "10 Leading Causes of Unintentional Injury Deaths, U.S., ages 1-14, 1995-2001" WISQARS Report.
³ US Consumer Product Safety Commission, Child Drowning study: “A report on the epidemiology of drownings in residential pools to children under age five”, P. Present, 1987.
⁴ Contemporary Pediatrics, “Drowning: A preventable cause of Death”, Dr. Robert Bolte, MD, cover story, July 1, 1999.
⁵ American Academy of Pediatrics, "Prevention of Drowning in Infants, Children, and Adolescents" Policy Statement, Pediatrics, Volume 112, Number 2, August 2003, pp 437-439.

⁶ American Academy of Pediatrics, “Swimming Programs for Infants and Toddlers (RE9940)” Policy Statement, Pediatrics, Volume 105, Number 4, April 2000, pp 868-870.