Le Bonheur Children's Hospital

Memorial Day Water Safety Pledge

Last Memorial Day, two children tragically drown in local pools. This Memorial Day, join Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center and Safe Kids Mid-South in a commitment to keep children safe in and around the water.

During the summer months, drowning deaths among children increase 89 percent over the rest of the year. It is the #2 cause of unintentional injury death to children ages 1 to 14 in the United States.

Here are just a few easy ways you can protect children at the pool this summer.

  1. Children should learn to swim. Enroll them in swimming lessons taught by qualified instructors when they are ready, usually after age 4. If you don’t know how to swim, enroll with your kids!
  2. If you have a pool at your home, the pool should be surrounded by four-sided isolation fencing that is at least 5 feet high and equipped with self-closing and self-latching gates.
  3. Adults should be on hand at all times to supervise kids in or near the pool. Learn CPR. Keep rescue equipment, a telephone and emergency numbers poolside. NEVER leave a child unsupervised in or around a swimming pool, even for a second.
  4. Take the Safe Kids Memorial Day Pledge to wipe out child drownings. 

For more ways to keep kids safe in and around water, visit Safe Kids Mid-South.


Posted: Fri May 22 00:00:00 CDT 2009 For more information please contact: Susan Helms , 901.287.6730