How to Prevent Drowning

Video Transcript

PHILIP TORIELLO: Hi. This is Philip Toriello, and this section is how to prevent drowning. The best way to prevent drowning is knowing your limits and boundaries. The individuals that are most popular with not knowing their limits or boundaries are children. They have a tendency of going into water that's too deep for them and in turn, panicking, stirring up the water, causing it to get into their face and then subsequently getting into their mouth, choking, coughing which puts them into a heightened state of fear and panic, which will pick up the pace of drowning. The second way to prevent drowning is to know how to go into a safety back float or a calm, relaxed state until somebody can help you. That's simply by putting your head back, your bellybutton up and asking for help. This is what I teach the children every day or in a lot of my swim lessons. Parents will come up to me and tell me that their child has jumped into the water with a noodle has slipped off, started panicking and they're in the middle of the pool and don't know what to do. So what I do is a I basically tell people to work on their back floats and that's simply by keeping their head back, so their mouth can breathe as much oxygen as they want. Keep their bellybuttons up and just ask for help. Another way to prevent drowning is to always swim with a friend. Whether you're swimming at the beach, in a swimming pool, a lake, any water environment, even and including water parks, is to always swim with a friend and never be afraid to ask for help. It's better to ask for help and get out of trouble than to find yourself in a panic situation and you're going underwater and nobody knows where you're at or what's happened to you. So to learn more about safety floats, preventative drowning techniques, and more information, please contact your safety instructor or local lifeguard.