Drowning doesn't look like drowning

Great read....from a former lifeguard that almost lost someone because they didn't teach us what someone drowning looks like.

Had a children swim meet a long time ago and one of the kids was struggling to get to the wall looking up at all the parents who were encouraging him to make it. It was exactly as described, he was just blankly staring at them, making no progress, head back and vertical in the water. I started to make my way over there when he slipped under....luckily, I was about 10' away at that point and went in and got him. Had I known this info beforehand, I would have entered the water much sooner.

Just something to read and be aware of.

Very good article and lots of information that I would not have known.

Thanks for posting the link.

I saw that look in my 5 yo daughter's eyes a couple years ago at the lake.  She was about 3 feet from shore, surrounded by people, and could swim.  She slowly walked backwards until it was too deep to touch.  I told her to swim once, but then noticed her screaming eyes.  About three steps into the water and I grabed her.  My wife was by my side talking to another parent and had no idea the distress our daughter was in.  I will never forget the look on my daughter's face.

Thanks for posting that link.

Edited by Hook'em 2010-07-01 9:42 PM

That look in their eyes is horrid...excruciating. My two year old was "drowning" just a few months back while we were waiting for her swimming lessons to start. She wandered off out of my reach and stumbled under for a second, bounced back above water but kept her mouth slightly below, and she was upright, but had this horrible look in her eyes that still haunts me. I can't even imagine what she was thinking. Luckily I was aware but I could have been looking away just for a second and she could have lost her life. It's scary.

When I was thirteen I walked past my best friend's pool on the way to their back door, and saw his four year old sister, arms up and out of the water, face under the water, in the shallow end, alone, just past the edge of the pool .... I thought she was waving to me..... I waved back ... walked past her ... and started in the sliding glass door.

Then I stopped, thought about what I'd just seen, went back and stared at her for a second before I reached down, grabbed an arm, and pulled her from the water.

She projectile vomited water and puke all over me, but she's still a family friend.

To this day I get a little freaked out when I think about that.

Edited by jsselle 2010-07-01 10:15 PM

Thanks for posting that. I just put it up on my Facebook page. It's a good thing, especially this time of year, for people to know what drowning really looks like!

Just read the article, thank you for posting!  I will be much more aware when in the water.  Yikes!

While I have pulled a kid to safety at a lake who wasn't showing any of the signs of "distress".  I honestly hadn't put two and two together so this was a great read.  It makes COMPLETE common sense though. 

I mean, hands outstretched in the air?  I can barely do that in training doing flutter kick. 

Thanks for posting!

Great - now I've got chills.  The kid I pulled out of our pool last year was drowning and not screwing around.  3-4 year old with an inattentive dad walked down the steps into the shallow end of the pool.  3 foot kid and 3 1/2 feet of water.   Looked right into my eyes and couldn't reach out for my hand.  I grabbed him and yanked him out.  Whole thing from first step in to getting him on deck took less than 20 seconds.  Kid was fine.



Edited by bwingate 2010-07-02 7:40 AM

Agree x10!

I was a lifeguard at a waterpark in Florida, and made over 30 rescues in 2 years.  The company that did the LG training taught us what a 'real' drowning looked like.

Many of the rescues looked just like that.

One incident stands out; A little girl, maybe 10 or 11 comes down one of the short slides (at the 'activity pool').  The slide is only 1 story high, and lets out into 12 ft of water.  She starts to panic almost immediately. Perfectly vertical in the water, head up, arms out to her side ineffectually.

I blow the rescue whistle and go get her. Almost routine for me by then.

About a half hour later the girl's mother comes over to my LG station with her in tow. I think to myself; "wow, this may be the first time ever that someone actually thanks me for a rescue!"

Instead the mother starts yelling at me "my daughter was fine! I saw her and she wasn't in any danger! You embarassed me,her, and my whole family!" (she motions to a large group standing 20 yards off.)

I was having none of this. I blew a double whistle which calls for security, and said to the woman "I saved your daughter's life, whether you want to believe that or not. But I also just called over security, so unless you really want to be embarrased I suggest you get the hell out of my face."

It might have been overly harsh (I was 19 at the time), but man was I pissed.  I knew my job, and it wasn't my first rescue. That girl was drowning, and the mother was standing there watching with no idea. Then had the audacity to yell at me for savign her daughter.

Great post! I'm going to make sure my wife reads it as well, as she's the one most often with my son at the pool.

It's interesting. I received my WSI certification 25 years ago when I was in high school (although I never did anything with it.)  During the 13 week class I don't remember them ever describing what a drowning person looks like. We just had to practice saving people. I do remember us having to ask "are you OK?" before we jumped in.

I did have an opportunity to save a guy about 5 years ago at a private pool. He couldn't swim and for some reason decided to go off the diving board. He hit the water and started to panic immediately. This guy was about 5'8" and weighed probably 350 pounds. I'm 6'1" and at the time weight about 225. I jumped in after him.

In hindsight I should have taken a moment to recall my training from 20 years prior and approach him properly due to his panic. I came at him head-on and as soon as I got close to him he grabbed me and took me under. I had to wrestle myself away from him underwater. I backed off, regained my composure, then approached him from behind where I could get him into a restraining tow hold and pull him to the side. He was fine. His fingernails had torn the snot out of me and where I wasn't bleeding I was bruised. He easily could have taken me down with him.

I kicked myself for letting that much time pass and forgetting my training.

Excellent article! Thanks for posting it.

As a teenager, I was a lifeguard at a pool. I remember a kid, who was about 6 years old, who just "didn't look right" in the water. He was about 3 feet from the side of the pool. He wasn't thrashing, but he seemed "wrong". I jumped in and pulled him over to the edge where he could grab on. As it turned out, I was right. He was having trouble. I think I earned my whole summer's salary in that 15 seconds.

Even better approach would have been to grab a shepards crook, ring buoy, rescue tube, towel, whatever was nearby and not enter the water at all. My training is even older than yours, but I still remember "reach, throw, row, go".

ETA - glad to hear it ended well for you, even if you had some war wounds to serve as reminders

Edited by wingsfan 2010-07-02 9:44 AM

 

I got certified from a company called Ellis & Associates, that trains guards for water parks. They covered what a drowning person actually looks like. When I got my Red Cross cert later, I didn't realize they didn't cover that detail.
The other company is apparently still around and doing training for water parks.

Regarding getting pulled under, one thing I remember (and got to use once) is if you're pulled under, just allow yourself to get pulled down. The drowning person will instinctively let go when their body realizes you're not actually a flotation device. Then you can take another aproach.

I once rescued an adult in 4 feet of water.  He was disoriented coming off a water slide and had the classic signs of drowning.  I waded in to him, grabbed him under the arms, picked him up and put his feet down on the bottom.  He immediately recovered and walked out or the pool. 
There's no set criteria for drowning. A grown man can have it happen in the shallow end, and a kid can have it happen 2 feet from the wall.

I remember liking the lifeguarding job because it was relatively easy (mostly just daycare-ish), and paid really well. But also remember recognizing that I was getting paid well for what I could do, not necessarily for what I actually did hour to hour.

Thank you for an eye opening article.

made the front page of Yahoo!

AMEN-- to both the fact that it ended well and to the mnemonic device! My co-workers and I were taught "reach, throw, row, go, tow" years ago as lifeguards-- the last to emphasize that touching a panicking person should really be a last resort if nothing else works, precisely because of the likelihood of their pulling us under. A panicking person's strength multiplies several times over, so you REALLY don't want to get near someone like that unless you absolutely have to.

Thanks to the original poster for the link!

I don't know if that was from boyscouts or regular lifeguard training, but that's what I know as well.  Last thing you want to do is go in yourself.

However, I think for me, it would be my initial response (to dive in, as wrong as that is)...  and not take the time to look around to get something (pole, ring, or boat).