CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) – The number one killer of kids ages one to four is on the rise in the Commonwealth, with first responders and medical experts unsure why drownings have increased so sharply. However, as pool usage spikes with temperatures, they are urging parents be attentive to young children.
“This is something that does occur,” UVA Health Emergency physician Dr. William Brady said. “It occurs locally and it’s something we all need to be aware of and try to stop.”
Brady said this summer he is seeing more children who barely survived.
“Already with this summer just barely getting started,” Brady said. “We’ve had approximately five presentations to the emergency department of near drowning events in young children.”
Since Memorial Day, six children aged five and under have died from swimming pool drowning in Virginia. That sobering statistic is from the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Richmond and is more than all of 2024 and 2023 combined.
“It’s a challenge to watch your child 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Brady said. “But that’s what we have to do.”
Around water as shallow as a bathtub to as deep as a lake, Brady said the best way to protect your kid is to watch them carefully.
“Parents can take a very active role in the safety of their kids,” Albemarle Firefighter and EMT Ryan Haakenson said.
Haakenson said when it comes to keeping kids safe around water preparation is your best bet.
“Preparing those pools as far as having fences around them, making sure there’s always supervision when the kids are around, making sure the kids have flotation devices, whether that’s life jackets, and teaching the kids how to swim,” Haakenson said.
Teaching kids to swim and to be careful around water is what Charlottesville-based nonprofit Benjamin Hair Just Swim for Life is all about.
“It is truly a life skill that we believe that everybody should have the access to being able to learn how to swim,” said Lulu Wood, a coach at the nonprofit.
Lulu Wood has been teaching people of all ages to swim with Ben Hair for more than a decade. She said parents should be teaching kids water safety before the peak of summer.
“June and July people are flocking to the pool and it can’t just all happen in a month,” Wood said. “It’s really important to continue to like refresh skills as well as to continue building new skills, especially when it comes to water safety.”
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