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COSAC Foundation | PO Box 292-577 Davie, FL 33329 | 954-924-3571
To view Lois’ Memorial video visit: www.homelessvoice.org/lc
Protect the Ones You Love I thought and thought about what I would write about my Lois. What could I say about a Saint, a perfect person in my eyes and in many others as well? This was a lady who I loved very much but my love for her was, well… not perfect. My life is a little complex and she knew that, she knew my mission in life came first. She took that understanding and stood by me all the way till the end. When someone was in trouble she prayed. When I was on the floor giving mouth to mouth to someone with HIV she was saying prayers between handing me a bottle of peroxide to gargle with. So what could I say about her… I’m thinking and I am thinking what would she want? She would want my story to teach something, or teach a family how to be safe so their little ones would not get hurt. At the same time of thinking how could I teach something to keep a child safe, in comes Jordana to my office asking me about my pool if it was grounded and if the lights were lowered in amps and volts instead of a direct electric current. I told Jordana that yes my pool was safe but now it is time to spread the word since we have seen a few kids get shocked this month in our community from electric in the pool. Lois this one’s for you honey, this is the story I hope others will read and make their pool safe so their little ones won’t ever get killed.
CBS4 Exclusive: It’s Almost Summer…Is Your Pool Safe? A month after the death of his son Calder, Chris Sloan is still trying to understand what happened to his 7-year-old son. “There is many horrible ways of children dying and it happens a lot of time, but there is something specifically horrifying, because this is just so random. Pool, lights a pool electrical system can kill a kid or can kill a person or you… it’s just so, such an unusual, random way of dying,” Sloan told CBS4. When Calder touched the pool light, electricity flowed through his body. His muscles contracted. The energy pulled his little body in and there was no chance of escape. Coincidence or Something Else? Just a week after Sloan died, 10-year-old Diego Cabrera was swimming in his Hialeah apartment’s pool when he touched a railing. He was immediately shocked. Surveillance video of the pool, obtained exclusively by CBS4, shows the boy’s grandfather pulling him out. Two other kids were shocked before everyone evacuated the pool. To have two pool related incidents involving electricity within a week, was it coincidence or something more? How likely is it that what happened in North Miami and Hialeah happening again in a pool here in South Florida? “It’s very possible.” Irv Chazen told CBS4. He operates one of the oldest pool-building companies in South Florida. He’s built more than 7,000 pools since 1959. And he says he’s willing to shut down if something doesn’t change. “I’d rather see them shut the business of building pools down then allow it to continue on its present course. There are going to be more injuries and deaths caused by electrocution, electric shock or entrapment,
Lois this one’s for you honey, this is the story I hope others will read and make their pool safe so their little ones won’t ever get killed.
or drowning. That’s how I feel about it. I’d rather go out of business,” Chazen said. The Fix What Chazen wants outside of every pool is a transformer—which is a pretty simple device. High voltage power coming to your pool passes through the transformer, 120 volts become 12 volts. From there the 12 volts goes on to lights and pool pumps. What’s the difference between 120 volts and 12 volts? Take a 9 volt battery for example. (Do not attempt to do this) If you touch a wet finger to the end of it, it’s going to shock you, but you will be fine. If you touch 120 volts though, it would be 10 times what’s needed to kill you. Licensed electricians told us you could safely install high-powered 120 volt lines into pools. But if something does go wrong – which would you rather have flowing into the water? 120 volts that would kill you or 12 volts that you would live through? Jorge Grijalba with On Call Electric told us he tells people not to get in the pool if there is not a transformer. “Because I won’t get in myself,” Grijalba said. Optional Safety Our investigation into transformers became even more interesting when we learned 120 volt lines are illegal in commercial pools. The high-powered lines must be downgraded before they go to pool appliances and lights. So, in Hialeah, Cabrera gets shocked, but because a transformer was required, the power had been downgraded before it entered the pool. He lives. But in single-family homes, like Sloan’s, transformers are optional. Chris Sloan learned about the law from CBS4. He was disgusted. “I think it’s criminal. I don’t understand why homes aren’t regulated and why that’s allowed. Actually, I did not know that, I did not know that commercial there is a different standard in terms of voltage in terms of a commercial to a home, that
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