Watch: Olympic Swimmer Water Safety Message For Chester Parents

CHESTER, NJ — With Chester Area Pool’s opening day on Thursday, three-time Olympic Gold Medalist swimmer Rowdy Gaines, took time out to share a special message about water safety, with parents in Chester.

Gaines, who appeared in a video with Chester Township Councilman Michael Inganamort, covered what he called critical points in water safety, the "A’s, B’s, C’s and D’s," with A for “Adult,” B for “Barriers,” C for “Classes” and D for “Drains.”

Inganamort and Gaines know one another from the ZAC Foundation, an organization that advocates for water safety, founded in 2008 by the parents of a six-year-old boy, Zachary Archer Cohn, who died in a drowning accident in 2007, after he became trapped in the family's pool drain.

Gaines stressed the importance of keeping barriers around children to keep them safe near swimming areas, as well as to keep them away from pool drains, whether or not they’re open.

The ZAC Foundation reports pool drains tend to suck with hundreds of pounds of force, which can take several adults to remove a trapped child pulled into one. Though rare, with newer pools and spas equipped with safer drains, 85 percent of injuries can happen when people are sucked into the path of a pool drain, with 70 percent of those injuries in cases with small children.

It's suggested parents should teach children to stay away from pool drains and should they spot a missing or loose drain cover in a pool, they should tell a manager right away.

Gaines cautioned that 80 percent of child drownings happen when an adult is about 10 feet away.

He called cell phones a distraction and reminded parents to put their phones away while at the pool with their kids.

“Please keep an eye on your child, it’s the first line of defense,” Gaines said.

The Chester Area Pool is located at 137 North Road. Click here for information about membership rates, pool hours, registration, COVID-19 protocols and Chester Riptides swim team information, which meets for its first practice of the season on Saturday.

Questions or comments about this story? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.