Be cautious around water

Many South Africans take full advantage of the warm festive weather by spending a lot of time outdoors in the water.

‘Beaches’ and ‘swimming pools’ are the buzz words.

But some of the excursions to either will end in tragedy because some people will drown.

According to the National Sea Rescue Institution, about 2000 people – 600 of whom are children under the age of fifteen – drown every year.

David Stanton, head of clinical leadership at Netcare 911, says that emergency medical service providers tend to receive more calls related to drowning and water-associated emergency incidents during December and January than any other months.

“Our statistics reveal that the greatest percentage of all drowning incidents during the year occur during the peak holiday periods.”

Safety at the beach or pool

• Be absolutely vigilant where small children and older individuals are concerned. Keep a watchful eye on children at all times when around water.

• Be mindful of warning signs that may indicate dangerous swimming conditions such as strong currents, sharks and other dangerous sea life as well as contaminated water.

• Young children and inexperienced swimmers should wear life jackets or swimming aids to ensure their safety.

• Be careful not to dive into water where you cannot see the bottom. It is particularly dangerous to dive into the water head first as you could very easily injure your neck.

• Do not be ashamed to call for help if you are in trouble. Anyone, even the best swimmers, can run into difficulties at some or other time.

• Stay sober. Alcohol will not only impair your judgement and make you less careful, but it will also dehydrate you.

• Use sunscreen, wear a hat, use an umbrella or a tent for shade and cover yourself up during the hottest time of day, which is generally between 10am and 4pm.

“In any emergency situation the most important thing to do is to contact the correct emergency number immediately.

“Try and memorise the number for emergency services in your area and keep the number saved on your cell phone and close to your landline telephone.

“Contact Netcare 911 on the national number: 082 911,” he notes.

What to do in the event of drowning:

• Get the victim out of the water as soon as possible, but do not become a victim yourself. First make sure it is safe for you to enter the water.

• Handle the victim with care. Many submersion incidents are associated with neck injuries, so keep movement to the back and neck to a minimum.

• Assess to see if the victim is awake by asking, “Hello can you hear me?”

• Check for breathing by looking at the chest for no longer than 10 seconds. If the victim is not breathing or not breathing normally (i.e. gasping), call for immediate medical assistance.

• If the victim is not breathing, immediately start CPR. Begin with chest compressions. Keep doing CPR at a ratio of 30 chest compressions and then two breaths.

• CPR is vital, even if it is an amateur administering it. Keep on doing it until someone who is trained in advanced life support arrives and can take over.

• All parents should learn how to administer child CPR as it differs from adult CPR. All people can benefit from CPR training – it is not a difficult skill to learn.

“A basic course in first aid and cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can make a dramatic difference to the outcome should the skills be applied timeously,” he says.