Drownings In Minnesota: It Doesn’t Look Like You Think It Does

MINNESOTA — If past trends hold true, dozens of U.S. children, the majority of them younger than 5, will drown this summer. A report from the World Health Organization that used federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data said the Land of 10,000 Lakes ranked 31st for fatal drownings.

In the United States, drowning is the second-leading cause of unintentional death in children ages 1-14, according to the CDC.

The report ranked Alaska, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Florida and Louisiana as the top states for fatal drownings. The states with the lowest rates were Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Data for states with fewer than nine drowning deaths were not included in the report.

Those deaths include drownings in all bodies of water, but the USA Swimming Foundation said pools and spas can be particularly dangerous. At least 163 children younger than 15 fatally drowned in swimming pools and spas between Memorial Day and Labor Day 2017. Of them, nearly 70 percent were children younger than 5, according to the study based on media-reported drownings.

Here’s the thing about drowning that you need to know: You may expect to see flailing arms or hear a frantic call for help, like the dramatic scenes you’ve seen on TV and in the movies, but drowning doesn’t look like like that in real-life. It happens quietly. People can’t simply stop drowning long enough to take in a breath of air and call for help. The human body isn’t built that way.

Children can drown right in front of parents, as little as 10 feet away. That happened in New York a few years back, when a boat captain and former lifeguard trained to recognize what’s called Instinctive Drowning Response saw what the parents of a 10-year-old girl couldn’t see from a few feet: Their daughter was drowning. He was able to save the girl from drowning because he knows what drowning looks like.

Drowning is the second most common cause of accidental death among children 14 and younger, according to the CDC. About 750 children drown each year, 375 of whom do so within 25 yards of a parent or adult.

More startling, the CDC said 10 percent of parents watch their children drown because they don’t know it’s happening. Recognizing the real-life signs of drowning is especially important as schools dismiss and Americans head to beaches and swimming pools to cool off during the hot months of summer.

Before people drown, they may thrash around in the water — a sign they’re in “aquatic distress,” which may or may not happen before a drowning. They’re normally able to assist in their own rescue by grabbing lifelines, throw rings and other devices.

A true drowning victim, like the little girl saved by the boat captain, is most often helpless. That’s because the body instinctively responds to drowning, according to lifeguard Francesco Pia, who came up with the name, Instinctive Drowning Response, to describe the process.

Rescuers have as few as 20 seconds and up to a minute to save a person from drowning.

Here are five tips for recognizing drowning, as originally published in the Coast Guard’s On Scene magazine and shared by Slate.com:

1. In all but rare circumstances, people are physiologically unable to call for help. The respiratory system is designed for breathing, and speech is a secondary function. “Breathing must be fulfilled before speech occurs,” the article said.

2. A drowning person’s mouth alternately sinks below the surface of the water and then reappears, but the mouth is never above the surface long enough to exhale, inhale and cry for help. A drowning person will exhale and inhale quickly before their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water again.

3. Drowning people can’t flag down help. “Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface,” the article said. “Pressing down on the surface of the water permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe”.

4. When they’re drowning, people lose control of their arms. They’re struggling to stay afloat in the water, and “cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or teaching out for a piece of rescue equipment,” the article said.

5. While they’re drowning, people will remain upright in the water, and there’s no evidence of a supporting kick.

Some signs to look for also include:

• The drowning person’s head is tilted back with the mouth open;
• Eyes appear glassy and empty, unable to focus, or may be closed;
• Hair may be over the forehead or eyes of the drowning person;
• The drowning person won’t be moving his or her legs;
• The drowning person may be hyperventilating or gasping;
• The person may be trying to swim in a particular direction, but isn’t making headway;
• The person may try to roll over the back;
• The person may appear to be climbing an invisible ladder.

Young children are especially at risk because they can slip quickly away from their parents and go into water without understanding how dangerous it is, according to Parent.com. The most important thing is to get the drowning child out of the water as quickly as possible. If the child isn’t breathing, flip the child over on his or her back and begin rescue breathing while someone else calls for help. Don’t stop performing CPR until medical help arrives, even if the child is unresponsive.

Here are the steps you should follow:

1. Open the child’s airway by gently tilting back the head with one hand and lifting the chin with the other. Put your ear the child’s mouth and nose, and look, listen and feel for signs the child is breathing. Do you feel air or your cheek? Is the infant’s chest moving? While you’re doing this, call the child’s name and check for a response. Can you hear breathing (gasping for air isn’t breathing)? If the child isn’t breathing, what you do next depends on the age of the child.

2. For a child under 1 year, cover the infant’s nose and mouth with your mouth and breathe out two shots of air, each lasting about a second, and look for the chest to rise and fall. If the child or person is older, pinch the child’s nose, and seal your lips around the mouth. Give two, slow, full breaths, about a second each, then wait for the chest to rise and fall.

3. Check for a pulse once you see the person’s chest rising and falling. To check for the pulse, put two fingers on the child’s heck to the side of the Adam’s apple. To find an infant’s pulse, feel inside the arm between the elbow and shoulder. Wait five seconds, and if there still is no pulse, give one breath every three seconds. Check for a pulse every minute, and continue rescue breathing until the child begins breathing or help arrives. When you resume rescue breathing, be sure to tilt the child’s head back and lift the chin.

4. If you can’t find a pulse, you’ll need to begin chest compressions. For infants, visualize a line between the child’s nipples and place two fingers just below the midpoint, then apply five quick, half-inch compressions in about three seconds. After each one, give one breath using the rescue breathing technique. Among older children, use the heel of your hand — or both hands if the person is a teenager or adult — and apply five quick, one-inch compressions to the breastbone (just above where the ribs come together) in about three seconds. After five compressions, perform rescue breathing and give one full breath. For all ages, continue the cycle of five chest compressions followed by a breath in one minute until the person begins breathing on their own or help arrives.

Drowning hazards aren’t limited to big bodies of water, though. Infants and toddlers can drown in as little as two inches of water, including in bath tubs, buckets and containers, toilet bowls, diaper pails and wading pools, according to Parent.com.

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