The Leading Cause of Death in Children and How to Prevent It: An Investigative Piece

In the United States, drowning is one of the leading causes of death in children ages 1-14. Though the statistics vary depending on the age, drowning remains near the top of the list.  

Yearly, there are thousands of accidents revolving around children drowning, though not all of them are fatal. Even if they are not fatal though, drowning accidents can still lead to long-lasting health problems.  

According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, there are around 8,000 nonfatal drowning accidents every year. In other words, according to the site’s calculations, that is around 22 accidents per day that do not lead to death. 

When discussing cases of drownings, children are not the only victims. Drowning is one of the top causes of deaths among adults as well. As shown in a story told by Farrukh Mazhary about an incident from his childhood. 

“I remember I was a teenager and there was an acquaintance I knew from a family trip,” Farrukh begins. “We were at a lake for a picnic and two children had gotten swept away in the current. They didn’t know how to swim, and the current was too strong, so my friend had jumped in to try and help them,” he continued. “In the end, he managed to save the two children but unfortunately, he drowned in the process.”  

Unfortunately, drowning accidents happen quite frequently and it usually does not take a lot of water for a person to drown. Unlike what is shown in movies and shows, drowning is silent and quick as well.  

Helen Hawkins, a former assistant manager at Goldfish Swim School as well as a swimologist, was able to highlight some important details of water safety. Mrs. Hawkins will often go to different elementary schools giving water safety presentations for students, and she was happy to share the presentation.  

“Water safety is very important to make children aware of,” states Hawkins. “It’s true that 1 in every 4 kids drowns every year and everyone should be aware of some basic safety rules.” 

Accidents related to water do not happen only in pools, however. A lot of drowning accidents happen in a person’s home from the toilet, sink, bucket or in the tub. According to the University of Rochester’s Medical Center, children can drown in as little as 1 inch of water. 

According to the CDC, “Drowning can happen even when children are not expected to be near water, such as when they gain unsupervised access to pools,” The lack of water safety knowledge and supervision are big factors in most drowning accidents. 

The most recent news of a death from an apparent drowning is the case of Friends’ actor Mathhew Perry. Perry was found dead in home in L.A after having drowned in his tub, though the full cause of death is still being investigated in said case.  

The Patch, a community news website, mentioned that at a point in 2021, there were four cases of drowning to happen around the area of McHenry County. Three of the cases involved minors and two of those were toddlers.  

In 2021 there was a case in Lake in the Hills of child being pulled out of a pond at a gold course in critical condition. According to Patch, a community news website, the child was pulled out by golfers and given CPR before paramedics arrived. As of the article's publication, there was no news on the boy's current condition. 

Another case was of the toddler who had drowned in Lake Villa in July of 2021 according to the Patch. The toddler had drowned in the pool of his home after being left unsupervised. Unfortunately, in this case the child did pass away after being taken to a hospital.  

Most children who are survivors of drowning accidents come out of them with brain damage as well. Along with this, there are also the chances the survivors may suffer from anxiety disorders or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As stated above, children must be constantly monitored around bodies of water. Drowning is a silent and quick cause of death; most victims pass away within 10 minutes and after 2 minutes even if the victim is rescued, they will suffer brain damage. 

There are ways to prevent childhood drownings, however, and most of them are simple things adults can do to help their children. Of course, things like swimming lessons and such are effective ways to teach children about water safety from a young age. For one, children, especially the younger they are, just be under active supervision of an adult, specifically if a body of water of any kind in the area. Though this is not a guaranteed prevention cause as sometimes accidents may happen no matter how careful a person is.

As shown in the graph above, most of the water related accidents occurred only a few minutes after the children were out of the supervision of adults. Swimming is an important skill to learn, however, the most important thing about water safety for children is to not leave them unsupervised near water.  

In an interview, Hawkins explains this acronym called W.A.T.E.R which was created to help children remember the rules better. W.A.T.E.R stands for: Wear your life jacket; Act. Throw don’t go; Take swim lessons; Educate. Learn swim safety rules; Respect. Play it cool and follow the rules.  

Hawkins explained how she used visual aids in her presentations to show the students what is the right and wrong way of doing things. The presentation did have an effect from what she observed as the students absorbed the information. The children stated that they will be going home and talking to their parents about water safety.  

Hawkins stated that according to the Goldfish way, W.A.T.E.R is a simple and fun way for children to learn what to do and not to do when in a situation where someone is having trouble in the water.  

“I always start my presentation by introducing the children to Bubbles the goldfish, our swim school’s mascot,” Hawkins says. “Then I say something like ‘Remember kids, Bubbles is a fish, that means he can breathe under water, but you are all children so you can’t breathe underwater’ and then go into the rules from there.” 

Swimming schools are a great way for children to learn about water safety. The main goals of these schools are to teach children how to swim and how to be safe in the water so there are less water related accidents.