SWIMMING POOL SAFETY

Sumter State College who hopes to become a registered nurse. “I think people tend to be lax when it comes to pool safety because they figure as long as they can swim, nothing can go wrong. That’s not true. While people should not walk on eggshells when they’re swimming, they should follow common sense precautions to avoid serious injury.”

Taylorrose, who lives in Lady Lake, offers the following pool safety tips:

•“Walk slowly in the pool area rather than run. When your feet are wet, you can easily slip or fall and injure yourself.”

•A lot of kids like to play chicken. This is a game where friends sit on each other’s shoulders and try to knock the other pair off balance. This could result in hitting your head on the side of the pool.”

•“Kids also like to wrestle and hold their wrestling partner underwater. This is dangerous because they do not know how long their wrestling partner can hold his breath.”

•“Get out of the pool and rest if you are feeling fatigued. We use every muscle in our body when we swim, so it’s a health hazard to remain in the pool when we’re tired.”

•“Never let a child swim without constant adult supervision. This can help prevent dangerous events from happening.”

•“Don’t attempt to dive into the open part of an inner tube. You might not be able to flip the inner tube back over and get your head in the air.”

•“Don’t attempt to jump into a pool and land on a raft. The raft can fly out from under you and cause you to hit your head on the side of the pool.”

•“Don’t smoke around the swimming pool. Secondhand smoke can seep into the lungs of a child. The child then may start coughing and panicking and get water in his lungs.”

•“Do not drink alcohol and attempt to swim. You run the potential risk of becoming disoriented or passing out.”

•“Avoid attempting backflips off the side of the pool. My brother did that when he was younger and hit his head. He had to go to the hospital.”

•“Do not play near the ladder. If you’re underwater and the ladder snags your bathing suit, you won’t be able to come up for air.”

Keep Your Life Afloa

Lt. Brian Gamble, an emergency technician with Lake County Fire Rescue, explains how to perform CPR on a drowning victim:

•“Make sure the scene is safe. For instance, someone may die in a bathtub due to electrocution.”

•“Determine the victim’s level of unresponsiveness.”

• “Call 911.”

•“Determine if there are signs of circulation. For example, check for a pulse in the neck.”

•“Begin compression only if there is no pulse. Center your hands two fingers above the bottom of the performing compressions with the heel of your hand.”

•“Perform one compression per second for a total of 30 compressions.”

•“When finished, tilt the victim’s head and lift his chin. See if there are signs of breathing. If the victim spits up water, turn his head to the side so water does not re-enter his lungs.”

•“If there are no signs of breathing, pinch the victim’s nose and place your mouth on the victim’s mouth. Give two breaths by breathing in and exhaling.”

•“If this is ineffective, perform 30 compressions again.”