Secondary Drowning – What is it and What to look for

07/18/2016

Earlier this year I was watching my daughter was having private swim lessons at a local hotel pool. There were other children in the pool who were guests at the hotel. At one point my daughters instructor noticed one of the boys bobbing up and down in the water, he would come up for a second and then go back down – it looked a bit like he was playing or relaxing in the water. None of the adults he was with reacted so I thought “ok he must just be playing then” but I kept an eye on him as it just didn’t feel right to me. The instructor, another swim parent and I asked the adults he was with if he could swim and if he was ok as we were all getting concerned. The boy then stopped coming up and went down towards the bottom of the pool. My daughter was quickly put on the side of the pool and her instructor dove down and got this boy. I ran to the side and pulled him up out of the water and luckily a grandmother of another girl there for swim lessons was there and she is a nurse and was able to get the boy to throw up some of the water. Luckily he was conscious and responsive. Another mom was on the phone with 911 and was asked by the operator if we wanted an ambulance to come or not.

He was out of the water and safe on the side. He was conscious and responsive. He was able to talk and even stood up. The instructor had saved him from drowning. He seemed fine. But I said no, we need an ambulance, tell them to send one. But why? Why did we still need an ambulance?

Secondary Drowning.

Some of you may have heard of it, other may have not. So what is Secondary Drowning?
Secondary drowning happens when someone Aspirates/inhales water. It can be any amount of water. When drowning the person can breathe the water into their lungs. You don’t even have to be drowning to aspirate and get water into your lungs – it can be as easy as getting the water in your mouth or getting dunked. When the water enters the person’s lungs their lungs become inflamed causing the person to have trouble breathing. Secondary drowning doesn’t happen instantly – it can happen from 1 to 24 hours after the incident and can be fatal without medical help.

Signs and Symptoms to Watch for:
• Fatigue
• Chest pain
• Fever
• Drossiness
• Lethargic
• Trouble breathing

What to Do
• Get Medical help if your child shows any of the above signs or if they were drowning, like the story I shared above

Prevention
• Teach your children water safety
• Stay close to your children in the water. If you have an older child who is in the water on their own keep an eye on them. Stay off your phone, put your book down, and know where in the pool your child is and watch them. Children and adults who know how to swim can drown
• Enroll your child and even yourself in water safety classes
• Remember drowning can occur in any water – the pool, the bathtub, toilet bowls, fountains

My daughter who was in the pool during this incident is 3. Like any 3 year old she has lots of questions about it. We are using this as a learning opportunity and talking to her about water safety. We are explaining to her why we have her in swimming lessons and how important it is to listen to her instructor.

My oldest daughter has been involved with Saskatoon Swim School for a year now doing private lessons and my youngest and I have been doing Mom and Tot classes together for 6 months. I have received so much great information and learned so much doing these lessons with my daughters. I’m not sharing this story to scare parents and have them scared to take their children swimming. I want to help make parents aware of secondary drowning. Each of my daughters are submerged multiple times at their lessons for 3-4 seconds and I’m not concerned about secondary drowning for them with these submersions – I have been taught the information and skills to submerge them safely and know what to watch for if something does happen.

I want to give a Big Shout Out to my daughters instructor Drew for her quick actions in saving this boy’s life.

Sources:

Saskatoon Swim School: http://www.saskatoonswimschool.com/blog-1.html

WebMd: http://www.webmd.com/children/features/secondary-drowning-dry-drowning