SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - On March 25, Assemblymember Laurie Davies (R-Laguna Niguel) has partnered with the California Coalition for Children’s Safety and Health (CCCSH) to introduce AB 1005, a bill that will provide drowning prevention education in schools and provide swim lessons for low-income children across California.
“Drowning is 100% preventable. We must ensure all children have access to swim lessons to prevent these tragedies, regardless of how much money their parents make,” said Davies. “Educating children and their parents about drowning prevention will save lives.”
“After I lost my two year old son Cody to drowning, I dedicated my life to preventing this tragedy from happening to other parents,” stated Marcia Kerr, Spokesperson for the Drowning Prevention Foundation. “AB 1005 is a critical step we need to take if we want to make drowning rare, rather than common, in California.”
In California, drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1-4 and second for children ages 5-14. For every child who dies from drowning, 7 more receive emergency care for non fatal drownings. The National Institutes of Health found that participation in formal swimming lessons lowers the risk of drowning for children ages 1-4 by 88%.
“Drowning not only takes far too many children’s lives and is a leading cause of permanent brain damage - drowning costs the state and taxpayers billions of dollars in costs associated with emergency responders, hospitalization, follow up healthcare and special education,” stated Catherine Barankin, Executive Director of the California Coalition for Children’s Safety and Health. “The provisions in Assemblymember Davies’ bill are key actions that must be taken to help drive our state’s drowning numbers down toward zero.”
“By increasing parents’ knowledge about water safety and giving kids access to swim lessons, this bill will save the lives of countless children and teens,” said Steve Barrow, State Program Director of the California Coalition for Children’s Safety and Health. “By giving children the tools they need to be safe in the water, we can prevent these avoidable tragedies.”
Swimming is an issue of access and equity, with 79% of children in households with incomes less than $50,000 having few or no swimming skills. Parents who don’t know how to swim are much more likely to have children who also lack swimming skills. African-American children are disproportionately impacted by a lack of water safety education, with a drowning death rate among African-American children ages 5-9 more than 2.5 times higher than the rest of the population. That rate grows to 3.5 times higher among African-American children ages 10-14. Additionally, drowning is the leading cause of death for children and adults with autism, who are nearly 40 times more likely to drown than the general population.
Educating parents and providing no-cost swim lessons for children will create a culture of water safety and prevent drownings. With 840 miles of coastline, 3,000 lakes, 1,400 reservoirs, 50,000 ponds and more than 1.3 million swimming pools, the prevalence of open water across California underscores the need to expand access to swim lessons for children throughout the state.
“Regardless of where they live, teaching children to swim is one of the most important things we can do to stop preventable injuries and death. This bill is a comprehensive approach to swim survival and will provide children with skills and knowledge that may save their lives,” stated Davies.
