Lifesaving Society offers tips to prevent drownings

Warmer temperatures may have driven you closer to water this summer to cool off.

A reminder from the Lifesaving Society of New Brunswick to be safe when swimming.  It’s National Drowning Prevention Week.

Spokesperson Sarah Hebb says when someone is going under, they are not able to call for help. “When someone is actively drowning, they can’t yell because they can’t breathe. You need air to be able to yell, and when your airway is getting full of water from being submerged, you can’t yell. You can’t splash,” Hebb says.

“They often look a bit like they’re trying to climb an invisible ladder. And you’ll see if you can see underneath the water, the eyes are wide, panicked, and the head is tilted back. They’re not really in a very good swimming position. They’re vertical. They’re trying to get to the surface. They’re grasping for whatever they can, and not really finding much of anything.”

The Lifesaving Society offers several tips to keep yourself safe while swimming. They include swimming with a buddy, swimming near or in front of the lifeguard if possible, staying sober and designating a specific Water Watcher.

National Drowning Prevention Week runs July 21 to 27, and key messages are delivered each day from the Lifesaving Society. World Drowning Prevention Day also falls on July 25 this year.

According to the most recent research for the Maritimes, based on details from Chief Coroners and Medical Examiners, 87 per cent of drownings were males and 13 per cent were females.

“Research tells us that it has to do with risk-taking behaviour. It has to do with other risk factors like consuming alcohol or other substances in and around the water, not wearing a life jacket or personal flotation device, swimming alone or recreating on the water alone or after dark,” Hebb adds.

She says reports have also found that less than one per cent of drownings that happen in Atlantic Canada occur in lifeguard-supervised settings.