Ahead of the summer swimming season, the Bloomington-Normal YMCA and the American Red Cross are promoting the importance of water safety for both children and adults.
Logan Wilson, the YMCA’s senior director of marketing, and the agency's director of aquatics Will Kent, along with Lyn Hruska, executive director of the American Red Cross serving Central Illinois, held a news conference on Tuesday to kick off the initiative.
Kent emphasized the importance of making education available so children and adults can develop “water competency,” a set of basic swimming skills that include treading water and exiting from pools without the need of a ladder.
“Swimming is more than a sport. It’s truly a lifesaving skill, and it’s so important you have this knowledge,” said Kent. “Teaching children to swim is so important because then they can enjoy the water safely and confidently, and then we can take a deep breath too, if we educate everybody.”
Hruska spoke of a worrying increase in drownings during the height of COVID-19, using data published by the Centers for Disease Control [CDC]. Racial disparities were exacerbated as well, with risk for Black and Hispanic people notably rising. Native Americans saw little change, but have long held the highest drowning risk of any racial group, according to the CDC. All non-Caucasian adults are far less likely to report having received swimming lessons.
Poverty also was cited as a reason some people have a reduced opportunity to learn water safety, and Hruska said more use of remote swim areas like streams and lakes may help explain why unintentional drownings rose across the board during the pandemic.
Hruska said new educational programs have a number of goals in addressing these issues.
One central point is including adults and caregivers in educational initiatives, and allowing helpful skills to be passed down generationally. Hruska said access for historically underserved communities is a key focus for narrowing disparities in risk.
“It’s been at least a two-year trend with significant year-over-year increases [in drownings]," she said. "So, part of what we want to do is be reaching out into vulnerable communities and make sure they have access and information.”
The start date is approaching but not yet certain for the new “Whale’s Tales” curriculum of water safety for children. A “Swim” mobile app is available with safety tips. Also being offered are CPR training and multiple water safety courses for adults — all free of charge.
More information and resources on water safety can be found by going to the following websites:
