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home / 世界杯决赛2022

montreal children's hospital trauma centre urges caution on water safety

alert comes after a weekend when a 4-year-old boy drowned in st-lambert and a 5-year-old spent 20 minutes underwater in his family's pool in repentigny.

by montreal gazette

jun 14 2022
read time 2 minute read
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drowning prevention requires a multi-faceted approach that includes constant adult supervision of children around any body of water — supervision that is close and undistracted, the montreal children’s hospital trauma centre said in an urgent alert about water safety issued monday.
that means no phones, screens or books. it means no chatting with neighbours and no alcohol. “all eyes on the water at all times,” the hospital alert said. “the supervising adult should be within arm’s reach of anyone with weak swimming skills.”
more than 50 per cent of children’s drownings are in backyard pools and 85 per cent of drowning deaths in young children are due to inadequate supervision, the alert said.

a four-year-old boy drowned in a backyard swimming pool in st-lambert on saturday and a five-year-old child spent 20 minutes underwater in his family’s repentigny swimming pool sunday before being pulled from the muddy water unconscious.

other measures important for drowning prevention:
— take swimming lessons.
— cardiopulmonary resuscitation (cpr) training is recommended.
— never swim alone, regardless of age.
— know the swimming skill level of those in your pool.
— ensure that there is no direct access to the pool from the house or patio.

— install adequate fencing around the pool: that means a four-sided, self-locking fence at least 1.2 metres high. the gate should be closed and locked when the pool is not in use.

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— where there is direct access to a lake, keep doors to the house locked at all times to prevent a child from wandering into the water.
— ensure that children are properly supervised on field trips to a pool, lake or water park.
— teach children to always swim with a buddy;
— swim in an area that matches swimming ability.

every year in canada, about 60 children younger than 14 drown and a further 140 are admitted to hospital following a near-drowning. drowning is the leading or second-leading cause of death for children between the ages of one and four, depending on the year, and the fourth-leading cause of death in children under the age of 14, according to the canadian red cross.

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