Drowning doesn't look like drowning - useful safety advice to be aware of

[JoBrodie]

I posted this link a year or two ago but can't find my original post on here to bump, so a new thread it is.

slate.com/technology/2013/06/rescuing-drowning-children-how-to-know-when-someone-is-in-trouble-in-the-water.html

Drowning can be a deceptively quiet event, nothing at all like the wild thrashing and yelling depicted in TV shows or films. This article tells you what to look for - if someone isn't moving much, very quiet and unable to respond, get them out quickly or call for help.

Jo "Safety enthusiast" Brodie :)

Chilling. I’m late 40’s, did life saving badges decades ago, watched teen DS do his life saving badges and still had no clue what to look out for.
Thank you.

Terrifying, I had no idea about this!

I feel quite emotional after reading that.

I've also done a Buzzfeed community post (I think / hope it will have a wider reach than my blog!) which includes the drowning-aware advice and some other bits and pieces (know your fire exits, read safety advice on transport, note the emergency number to call if outside UK) www.buzzfeed.com/jobrodie/summer-safety-while-on-holiday-cxpc7cc6v6

As a child whenever we went on holiday the first thing my parents (well mostly mum) would do after check in would be to walk the route from our hotel room door to the fire exit(s). She'd read a story of someone who'd died in a hotel fire after turning left instead of right...

Jo

terrifying

real choking is also completely silent

I nearly drowned as a 10 year old in a private pool.
I remember the silence. It's not possible to splash it was more trying to surface to gasp for breath then going under again. Like a bobbing apple.

Luckily I was spotted and saved by someone walking out of the changing room so had a higher view of the pool. But I can still recall the family next to me didn't help and I couldn't call out. They probably had no idea!

Thanks for the reminder Jo 👍.
We're literally heading off to the beach now. This is why I try and only use RNLI guarded stretches of beach. I like the extra eyes keeping an eye on us.

Anyone heading to the beach might also like to read up on Rip Tides too. There's been a couple of serious incidents on the Welsh coast over the last couple of weekends including a fatality.

Mine are regularly lectured on rip tides. I'm such a fun zone .

@planningaheadtoday

I nearly drowned as a 10 year old in a private pool. I remember the silence. It's not possible to splash it was more trying to surface to gasp for breath then going under again. Like a bobbing apple.

Luckily I was spotted and saved by someone walking out of the changing room so had a higher view of the pool. But I can still recall the family next to me didn't help and I couldn't call out. They probably had no idea!

I had two similar experiences as a child, one in a school pool and one in the sea when I got caught up in a flotation device. Terrifying, and the obliviousness of people only a few feet away has always stayed with me.

I remember this happening to DD2, who was having a joint swimming lesson with DD1. The instructor was focusing on DD1 for a while, and missed DD2 going under until I shouted out. Scary.

This is a very good thread.

I remember nearly drowning with my small son who couldn't yet swim in a round swimming pool in Majorca. Luckily we didn't but it took a heroic effort to get to the side, I've never forgotten and I considered myself to be a reasonable swimmer. I can still picture seeing people on sunbeds around the pool, totally unconcerned.

It reminds me of that Stevie Smith poem: Not waving but drowning.

bumping this important thread.

I want to add:
teach your children to float on their backs and to tread water. that can save their live, especially in open water.

Thank you 🙏

Thank you for this!

I want to repeat this:

teach your children to float on their backs and to tread water. that can save their live, especially in open water.

The worst thing you can do is panic and the best thing to do is to stay calm and float on your back.

Very good point about rip tides and floating on your back, thanks - if I can work out how to edit the Buzzfeed post I will add info on those.

Another thing to be aware of (though less related to holiday travel, more birthday / Christmas presents) is the fact that small button batteries found in kids toys, games, hearing aids, thermometers, blood glucose meters etc can be fatal (or can cause serious injury) if swallowed.

The advice is to treat any missing battery (can't be found in packaging or clothing) as a medical emergency (go to A&E / ER) until a scan or check-up by a healthcare professional indicates otherwise. Harm can occur from 'flat' batteries too -
• www.capt.org.uk/button-batteries
• chimedblog.wordpress.com/2016/01/04/button-batteries-can-kill-if-swallowed/
• PDF lrsb.org.uk/uploads/button-battery-safety-leaflet-11.pdf

Jo

The worst thing you can do is panic and the best thing to do is to stay calm and float on your back

^^ This. A ten YO boy survived an hour washed out to sea by following this advice that he'd seen on a TV programme in the last few days. If he'd have panicked or try to swim, he would have probably exhausted himself and drowned.

I've reposted the original Buzzfeed post on my blog and added the other suggestions - here brodiesnotes.blogspot.com/2020/08/summer-safety-while-on-holiday_13.html

Buzzfeed decided that the post was in conflict with their user agreement and community rules (!) and deleted the post along with my entire account, which seems a bit overkill. Baffled at the decision... but they are not getting their mitts on my blog :-)

Jo

Bumping this in case useful for anyone spending time near water this year - be aware that someone can drown while you're literally looking at them, if you don't know what you're looking for. They are unlikely to be making much noise (they're unable to, a reflex) and if someone can't respond they need urgent help.

Buzzfeed deleted my post (grr) but there's other info here (brodiesnotes.blogspot.com/2020/08/summer-safety-while-on-holiday_13.html) including -

1. Drowning doesn't look like drowning (it's calm and quiet, not thrashy or screamy)
2. Know where your fire exits are (eg do you turn left out of your hotel room or right?)
3. Go on, read that safety card (eg aircraft doors don't all open in the same way and when faced with an emergency that's the least best time to peruse the instructions)
4. Know the local '999' number (is it 999 where you'll be? Does everyone in your party know?)
5. Rip tides / rip currents and what to do if you're in one
6. Float to live (lean back).

Jo

Yup, great thread. I was at a lake a couple of years ago while a boys parents cluelessly watched him drowning. I crashed through the water past them to get to him, battering my feet on rocks as I went, when I reached him and held him up he was going under again for the umpteenth time, he hadn't managed to get his nose/mouth out of the water at all in the time it took me to get to him (which felt like forever). He was just 'calmly' bobbing. He was only just out of reach of being able to stand up, his inflatable toy he was riding on had floated just out of his depth. His parents were smiling and watching. Got him back to land and he threw up and coughed up for a while but was basically alright after a while. His parents never did really seem to grasp the gravity of what just nearly happened.

Yikes that's grim. How incredibly lucky that you were there and knew the signs. Until I read that "Drowning doesn't look like drowning" piece I'd have been like the parents, assuming someone drowning would be yelling "help, help" and trying to get my attention.

Jo

thanks @JoBrodie

I had no idea

Yes, super lucky, I did kind of doubt myself as there were a number of people watching who weren't batting an eyelid, but the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I thought I'd rather look stupid than be right and do nothing. I had at some point read that drowning looks very calm and like nothing... That little crumb of information is what got me out to him when all was said and done. My feet were black and blue for ages.

Always watch the aeroplane safety demonstration and read the card. It needs to be fresh in your mind, even if you have seen it a 1000 times before. Otherwise your panicking lizard brain will have you trying to take off the seatbelt like you would in a car. If the demo is fresh in your mind, you are more likely to lift the buckle flap straight away.

Thank you for bumping this. So scary.