Thanks to everyone who entered our contest. It is now closed.
Another month, another prize to be won. In May, we ran a contest to get discussions started on bike helmet use in BC. This month, The Community Against Preventable Injuries is focusing on how we can reduce the number of British Columbians who are injured or die from drowning. You might think that drowning isn’t that common, unfortunately,
“Every month, six people die due to drowning in BC.” - The Community Against Preventable Injuries
Then I thought about my life and remembered those that I have known who’ve drowned. On top of it all I woke up to this sad incident involving a houseboat crash on the Shuswap over the long weekend.
To raise awareness about drowning in BC, we’re placing towels emblazoned with the words “You’re probably not expecting to drown today” along with a pair of flip flops, sunglasses, and a beach bag on Vancouver’s Kits Beach as well as beaches in Victoria, Kelowna, and Prince George.
The aim is to get people thinking about the dangers of water and to eventually get more people to think about them before they or the ones they love get into the water. Simply remembering to wear a lifejacket, supervise your child when swimming, and not consuming alcohol when boating can keep you harm free in the water this summer.
OK, now for the contest. Being the news junkie that I am, I’m constantly trolling the Internet for stories about injuries. You might say it’s a morbid activity, and you might be right, but I see it as research.
Now we want to hear about YOUR experiences surrounding water safety. Share your story, and you could win a $100 gift certificate from Canadian Tire.
Here’s an example of what we’re looking for from my own experience.
I unfortunately lost three friends when one summer evening they decided to drink alcohol and venture out on a lake in a power boat. It happened when I was a teenager, and ever since then, I’ve been acutely aware of the sobriety of the people with whom I venture out on the water.
It’s as simple as that. Your post can be about any aspect of drowning, whether it involves swimming pools, lakes, rivers, the ocean, or your one-year-old and a bath tub.
We want you to share your story and for others to learn from it so they don’t have to deal with drowning for the first time, or ever again in their lives.
So post away! You can use your Canadian Tire gift certificate to buy some summer water gear so you can enjoy the water and be injury free at the same time.
Full details on Rules and Regulation here.
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Pleased to see Safe Kids Canada is working to increase public awareness of the high incidence of drowning each year. My motto is “Play Safe”!
Water safety – we were sitting at the beach watching the toddler stray from his parents. He was very wobbly and stumbled, face first into maybe 6 inches of water. He tried to push himself up but his arms were too short to clear his face from the water.
We had to haul him up – sputtering. The parents – unconcerned. Who expects their toddler to drown right at the water’s edge!
My own personal experience comes from a very close call I had at age 14. My then step dad had taken myself and my girlfriend out in the boat at our cottage, and we were headed over to the cliffs that we often went to to jump off into the water. We had done this a million times before – no reason to think this would be any different. I was 14, and a know it all, and because I was a “strong swimmer” who had been swimming all my life, I never wore, or even carried a life jacket with me at that point, unless we were going on a long trip. Anyhow, my step dad thought he was going to be “cool” and try to scare us by really whipping the boat around and ended up flipping it. I have no idea literally how far from shore we were, but we were in the middle of the lake. I should also mention my step dad did not know how to swim, and also, did not have a life jacket.
So the boat flipped, a couple of times if I remember correctly, and of course we and everything with us, went under – towels, clothes, shoes, extra gas tank, paddles, everything. I was knocked on the head by the boat I assume, and was covered in bruises from head to toe, bruised and cracked ribs etc. My girlfriend managed to be only slightly bruised, and my step dad didn’t get hit with the boat – but couldn’t swim. Somehow I came to as I was going down, and got myself back up to surface, to realize I couldn’t see my stepdad. I went back under, as now I was running purely on adrenaline. I managed to grab him and pull him up. My girlfriend and I swam all the way back to shore dragging him by his shirt, and all managed to come out alive, though once my mother found out, I think she was going to kill us all anyways! Anyhow, this was a huge wake up call for me, that I was super lucky, we all were, and that I needed to not worry about looking cool, and always have my life jacket, and that no matter how strong of a swimmer you think you are, if you get hit in the head, or any other freak thing that may happen, you might not be able to swim.
I live in Ontario, and there have been countless drownings in the last 2 weeks. It is devastating, and I am now super aware and cautious with my own children, because of my own near experience.
A month ago, my kids saw first hand for themselves as well, as we were away for a weekend, and we saw a little girl drowning, and be pulled from the water, and the lifeguards trying to revive her, and her parents standing there freaking out, and the paramedics coming etc. It was awful for them to see, but very good in that I could say to them, look, her parents were both standing right there, and it STILL can happen.
I’m a mom of an eleven month old and glad to read of your work. I need to find her some swimming lessons! A childhood friend drowned in a lake when we were five years old, and I have always tried to have that inform my sense of carefulness around water. Thank you for your important work.
I think this is a great initiative. As a lifeguard I have always been appalled at the lack of water safety knowledge out there, especially at the beach!
The majority of major first-aid emergencies I have dealt with come from carelessness. Granted, they were at indoor and outdoor pools, but people tend to act in a similar manner around their friends when near water. I handled a shallow-water spinal that occurred when a new patron at the pool dove into what was clearly marked as the shallow end of the pool. If that can happen at the pool, with clean signage and underwater markings, the waterfront is that much more dangerous and needs to be approached with a certain amount of level-headedness.
Keep up the great work, Preventable!
About 10 years ago I was on a sailing trip with friends. We’d moored our yacht 100 meters off a beach & were just enjoying the day. We had a windsurfer on board so I put on my wetsuit and sailed it to the shore.
Another member of our party was already on the shore and sailed it back leaving me to swim back later.
The distance was well within my capability but swimming in a wetsuit is HARD WORK. Especially as I found myself swimming against a tide. I got about half way back to the boat and started to feel tired.
It’s really important to stay well within your capabilities when you’re in the water. Anticipate problems before they happen. By the time you really start to run into trouble it’s too late to signal for help. Read this: “Drowning doesn’t look like drowning” http://mariovittone.com/2010/05/154/
So, although I still had enough energy to keep going, I waved at our boat and they launched the dinghy, rowed over and pulled me out of the water.
They were kinda freaked – “were you drowning?”, “are you OK?”. Well actually I was fine… tired but fine. But the point is that I wouldn’t have been if I hadn’t recognized that things were going to go bad if I didn’t call for help while I could. As it was, I was able to rest, treading water for 5 minutes, knowing they were coming for me. If I hadn’t called for assistance early, things might have been very different.
When I was 24 and in Australia for a year, I swam practically every day. Though it was one night where I had quite a bit to drink and dove into what I would call a shallow swimming pool. Hit my head very hard; and to this day I still get chills at the thought that I could have broken my neck, had a major head injury and/or drowned.
This is not an Ad that one should where a helmet from Preventable when drunk diving into pools, it’s a message that even if you are a good swimmer, alcohol and water is a dangerous combination if there’s a chance you might fall into it or swim in it.
Back when I was about 10 or so a friend and I used to go to the community swimming pool. It was staffed by a lifeguard, but it was always crowded and packed with people.
One time my friend was tired of staying in the shallow end with the younger kids and ventured off to the deep end. He somehow slipped while walking over and went under water. The lifeguard didn’t catch it and I didn’t notice he was gone either.
Lucky for everyone an older man saw him struggling underwater and grabbed him above water. The lifeguard performed CPR and all was well.
Since then I’m always cautious of crowded water areas, particularly with younger kids. It’s far too easy to lose someone in the blink of an eye in all the excitement.
I went white water rafting down the Ottawa River last summer. We all wore life jackets as it was mandatory with the tour group. Our leader told us beforehand, if you fall out of the boat and go under, just hold your breath and your life jacket will do the rest. Well, we hit this one rough rapid and I was throw from the boat and was sucked under by the current. It felt like I was under forever and began to fear if I would ever surface. I was likely under for no more than 8 – 10 seconds but it feels like a lifetime. If it wasn’t for my life jacket, it’s likely things would have been different. ALWAYS wear your life jacket !!
Never underestimate the power of water on a river. Undertows cannot be seen, but are so powerful they can suck you under and away in a flash.
I never learned how to swim
- even though I had lessons
many many times. I made sure
our three daughters had swimming lessons – they all did well – each daughter earned many swimming badges.
One rule we always had and to this date – they always
do this – was to wear a life
jacket while swimming in the
lake or on a boat.
My husband grew up in a small town called Port Alice. Everyone owned a boat of some sort, but very few children and adults learned to swim. There wasn’t a pool nearby and lessons simply were not available. Well his best friend’s young brother was 18 and had his own boat and he would find stray logs for extra cash. One day he took a friend out with him in the boat and while trying to bring in a log the boat flipped. There was only one life jacket aboard and neither teen could swim. The owner of the boat threw the life jacket to his friend. The last his friend saw of him was him clinging to the bottom of the over turned boat. They found his body two days later. He was a dead hero.
I grew up on a farm in Manitoba. When I was 4, I nearly drowned int the trough used to water the cattle. Curiosity drew me to the water and luckily, my grandfather saw me fall in or I wouldn’t be around today.
I definitely recommend warm-up before getting in the water. I have once lost control because my calf started cramping and I was paralyzed for a few seconds
This is a great way to raise awareness. My husband and his brother were out at their cottage when they were teens and his brother went out on the boat which ran out of gas. He tried to swim back but was exhausted and almost drowned – they really learned the importance of going out in pairs in the water and making sure someone knows where you are at all times.
I was at a big get together where everybody was drinking and 3 guys left of a boat really drunk. The guy in the back slipped and hit his head and fell into the water and nobody in the front noticed until it was too late, when they went back to look for him they couldn’t find him.
when i was younger we used to water ski on the trent river in ontario , i wasnt very good at it and i had a pretty severe wipe out and somehow managed to hit my self in the head with the ski , i almost passed out luckily i didnt or by the time they got back to me i would have been under and the river was dark , and i dont know if they could have found the exact spot i went under , i was very lucky that day , i did NOT have a life jacket on, after that the adults always made us wear them
Know your surroundings when swimming in the water. Watch for hazards before and during your swim.
My mom often has inflicted a fear in me of the tide coming in. When she was in her late teens she was out with a friend on a beach. They were just exploring the beach and not paying attention to the tide coming in. My mom was alone on a higher part of ground and the water had come in around and behind her. She was about 1/2km from the main shore and was not a strong swimmer. My mom was swimming and said she was starting to give up, the tide was so strong with the tug and pull, she was hardly moving. Her friend from the shore encouraged her to keep going so she gave it another try. Fortunately my mom managed to make it shore, its a scary story, so its important to be aware of whats going on around you.
Last year I was at the beach in western Australia, and decided to join some friends who were playing in the surf.
I noticed that waves were really big, which was fun at first until I realized that I was eventually getting farther from the shore. Some of the waves were towering over me; I avoided being overwhelmed by the breaking water by duck diving down to the sand.
A few big waves came in succession, and I realized that I was almost unable to touch the sand with my feet. I started to feel panicked because I knew about the dangers of getting caught in a rip tide which can take people out to sea.
However, I tried to take deep breaths each time I surfaced to calm down, and eventually was able to swim back towards the shore.
I was very relieved to reach the shallow part of the water; there was no lifeguard on duty and I’m not sure that anybody would have been able to see me if had succumbed to the current. I was glad that I took a surfing lesson which explained about rip tides.
An important thing that I was taught is that it is better to swim perpendicular to a current rather than trying to swim against it.
My uncle and father took me out fishing when I was very young, but a number of our lines got caught in seaweed because we’d ventured too close to a buoy. The boat suddenly jerked, and in I went. My uncle saved my life, and my parents made sure I got proper swimming lessons after the incident so a close call like that never happened again.
In high school kids were jumping off a large cliff that is illegal to jump off of.
A boy was being egged on to jump but he refused. Some older boys later scared him and he fell into the water. The under tow in that area is very strong [near a the locks as well] and he was pulled under and drowned. A girl nearly drowned trying to save him.
It’s very sad that people think their invincible.. even if you know how to swim, you could get pulled under or become exhausted.
Even with my niece and nephew [3 and 4 years old] in the pool. We make them wear life vests or water wings and an adult ALWAYS has to be in with them. The get hyper and carried, especially their cousin and he almost drowned my niece by jumping on her; very scary.
I was lifeguard all threw highschool (many years ago) at a wading pool, the worst thing, and most dangerous I ever saw on little kids was watter wings. Those blow up things people put on kids arms, now you can buy them all in one on a suit aghhh. Kids would tip upside down, and the parent thinking there young one was safe with these crazy things on was involved in a book or whatever – well, thank goodness for us lifeguards is all I can say. My children have never had a water wing on in there lives :) I am not big on tubes or that kind of thing for the same reason – if you use them -watch you kids, three minutes is all it takes, that is a very short conversation with a friend. Water needs alot of respect.
Although parents might think their kids are great swimmers, that doesn’t mean they can not supervise them around water! Please, parents – watch your kids like a hawk! It only takes a few centimetres and a few seconds for disaster to strike!
Pick me, your next winner!! Starving artist here desperately needs the $100 card. Don’t eat before swimming.
Don’t just put your life jacket on, make sure that you fasten it securely. What is the point of having it on if it just falls off. Or worse yet, leaving it at the bottom of the boat. Use your head!
When I was a little girl I was at my aunt’s house playing around and in the pool with my older brother, two cousins and this little girl that was a family friend of my aunt’s well I guess the parent’s were gone for a split second and the little girl fell into the pool and my big brother who was really only like 8 at the time drove into the pool after her and brought her back up above the water surface and out of the pool! it was a pretty scary situation at a young age so I’ve been really careful around water ever since.
I could use this prize to buy a couple new lifejackets.
When I was about the age of 10.. I went on a hike with my gr. 4-5 class.. I slipped on a big log and almost fell in a huge rapid of water. Luckily I had good shoes to grip the log that I held onto the log and got back up onto the log and was able to cross. It was so scary but I got threw it.
For as long as I can remember, my parents strongly promoted water saftey, bike safety and road safety. They never bent the rules, even a little. I am now the same way with my children. It’s so important – things can happen at anytime – that’s why they’re accidents. “Trying” to prebent them is what parents should do.
You hear about accidents everyday but noone thinks it will happen to them, that day, that moment. I am so careful around water with my children. i often get criticized for being too cautious – but what’s too cautious? I say it’s necessary.
A number of years ago I was at a friends cabin, talking to the friend who had his 9 month old daughter with him. He was so busing talking that his daughter fell over the edge of the wharf & slipped under it. I managed to reach under & bring her up. Thank goodness for all my previous life guard training!
I have seen a few friends die because they didn’t check out the depth of the water before they dove off cliffs.
It’s not just kids who are vulnerable to drowning. Unfortunately our family has lost a relative to drowning. He was a young man, off having a good time with his buddies, drinking and goofing off on a boat when he fell off. Tragic but it was that simple and probably preventable.
The biggest story that stuck with me was the 3 year old boy who drowned in his parent’s back yard swimming pool because they didn’t have it properly gated and left the cover on. They didn’t find him until many hours after he had drowned.
A lot of people think that drowning happen on lakes by drunk people who are too intoxicated to swim properly. That’s true. But the other high proportion of deaths are young children under the age of 5 who fall into their family’s or family friend’s back yard pool and have poor / non-existant swimming skills. It’s really important that if you have a back yard pool that you put up a fence and a gate around it if you have small children.
Nothing has happened to me but my heart goes out to parents who have lost a child in the blink of an eye. It is very important to stay safe when in the water and be slow when on a boat.
Love the black humour of the towels. Hope you realize that people will want to buy them.
Most of us think only of cats as having nine lives. Well I don’t think we have a specific number, but I know most of us has had a “close call” and really dodged a bullet. For some of us it’s happened more than once and not necessarily at the same activity or place. And for others the sad truth is they didn’t get to have that “close call”, and they’ll never be able to have a laugh with friends and say “you won’t believe what happened to me!” Hopefully those of us who have had close calls, appreciate the opportunity to learn from them.
I think a “Close Call” campaign could be interesting, showing people in moments where they almost filled their drawers and then saying “I didn’t see that coming” or “That was a close one”. Or maybe even take it to a “Sliding Doors” (Gwyneth Paltrow’s movie) where the same person experiences the same event on two different timelines of the time space continuum and in the one timeline they get to say “that was a close one” and in the other they DON’T!
I have young kids and they are active in swimming lessons but not being swimmers yet i always make sure they have lifejackets on whenever we visit any pools.You can never be too safe.
I’ve seen a near fatal boating accident in BC, and couldn’t believe when we realized that nobody on board had a lifejacket. They are cheap and have styles to fit everyone. Silly not to wear on on the water
Wanted to add that this advertising is helping! I read about the campaign in the paper and saw the towels – good PR.
I’ve almost drowned as a girl 4 or 5 times and had to be dragged out of the water by an adult – no CPR was required thank God. I still can’t swim in rough water very well, although I would do ok in calm still lake.
I am reading about these drowing accidents about teenage boys who “weren’t strong swimmers” – how do you know if you are a strong swimmer or not? What can a strong swimmer do that a weak swimmer can not?
Use life preserver.
The recent deaths in BC due to drowning shows us that swimming lessons at a young age are so important! They say that recent immigrants to Canada are more likey to die from drowning that most.
This year, there has been more swimming deaths in BC than ever before! Many older people that should know the basics of swimming and knowing how to spot dangers before you swim. Sad that these deaths are preventable.
I was told that I went under at the local pool when I was young and my brother who is just over a year older pulled me to the surface. He hates me now, so I bet he regrets that. I am a certified scuba diver, and love the water, but I respect it more. I am very wary with my 3 kids 9 and under. They have been in lesson from 6months of age.
When i was young, I hit my head on the diving board at the local swimming pool. Thank goodness there were lifeguards there, since I don’t remember being pulled from the pool
Just this weekend, someone tried to swim across the Sooke Basin towards East Sooke! After a half hour, the coast guard pulled him from the water disoriented and shivering uncontrollably. From shore, the distance to another point might seem short, but its really not! Don’t try to swim long distances in cold water!
Just had a float plane flip over up here on the Sunshine Coast – without the skills to swim the crash survivors would not have been able to make it to shore! Learn how to swim!
A few summers ago, I saved a girl from drowning in a hottub after she had too much to drink. She was passed out with her face on the pool liner and nobody even realized she hadn’t gone into eat dinner with everyone else. Close call!
A summer ago I was sitting with some friends around a pool with their kids. One of the kids (1.5 year old) all of a sudden ran and went into the pool. Luckily we were watching and there to pull him out quickly as it wouldn’t have taken long for him to go under.
I don’t understand why parents don’t keep an eye on their children anywhere near a pool (indoors or by the pool).
When I was young, we were playing in a lake with no supervision or life jackets. I climbed up onto a log on the shore to run around, and didn’t realize how slippery wet logs can be! Even though we were playing in 10 inches of water, I fell face first in the water, knocking the wind out of me and almost blacked me out. I could have drown that day cause I didn’t realize how slippery those logs are!
slippery river rocks have made me fall into the river when fishing many times, so its always best to wear floatation devices, even when WALKING along a river bank!
[...] if you’re taking a break from the water, make sure to check our latest contest, and enter before the deadline. From the stories we’ve been accumulating from British Columbians, [...]
This weekend we spent alot of time on the ocean fishing and learned a valuable lesson! We took out a small rowboat and didn’t realize the little leak until we got out into the heavy tide. The boat was filling up fast! Check out your boat for leaks BEFORE you head out onto the water! Even if you have flares, safety and floatation devices, a leaky boat and heavy tides can be a death trap! We made it back to shore but the boat leak became larger and larger as we came closer to shore. WOW, scary!
Went down to Davis Bay today since its so hot, and since there is no lifeguard on duty, parents have to be extra careful to watch their kids in the water. Some parents sure don’t though! One couple was too busy partying and drinking to watch their child and I saw the kid go underwater in the surf! Gladly, a few others saw as well and we rushed to ensure the kid was ok. We made sure the parents realized they could have lost their kid, but it seemed they were too busy getting drunk to care. “Our kid can swim” was their reply.
Just double checked our safety devices on our boat, made sure our floatation devices were free of rips/tears and up to date with CSA rating, and ensured we were in total compliance with water safety regulations. After watching the BC News and seeing that LESS THAN 4% of boats on the Shushwap Lake this weekend were actually in compliance and over $16,000 worth of fines were handed out, it wasn’t really shocking. People just don’t realize how easy it is to drown, and don’t realize that you need safety gear ON YOUR BOAT when using it.
Used to be in a diving class in a small town and it had a small diving board. If you got enough leverage and height on your approach you could almost do two front flips. The pool wasn’t exactly deep, and the one day I decided to do a major swan dive I really ended up hitting my head on the bottom of the pool. I just didn’t realize how far into the shallow end I had dove! Always check the depth of the water before you jump or dive in.
The ocean is a very harsh mistress and can be deceptive. We were out this morning near Sechelt in the boat and didn’t check the weather conditions before heading out. A weather front came up unexpectedly and brought major wind and rain! Always check the weather conditions before heading out onto the water. Wind can cause huge waves that may swamp smaller boats. We headed to shore immediately!
I went tubing down Coquitlam river a year ago, with my mother… everything was fine, until we accidently passed the safe-point… all of a sudden, the river was so much faster, and the rocks were more numerous. My mother was fine, but I was flipped over and thrown against the rocks, dragged down the river until my back slammed into a large stone, it could have easily been my head that hit the stone… Even with the large stone as my hand from God, it was difficult getting from there to the shore… point of the story, is that anything could happen when your not excepting it. And my sister would have come home after a weekend with her father, not expecting the house to be emptier.
I’d been sitting atop a rock in the middle of a river… getting there had been easy, but now I was considering diving from the rock into the river. Life’s all about risks right… not always. In this case I had an incredibly bad feeling about diving off the rock… then I noticed something… the water, in it’s rush, seemed rise in a certain spot… as though flowing over something… I looked closer and discovered it was large rock underwater. Right there, right in front of me, where I was planning to dive… The mistake I almost made was unexpected. I just sat there for several minutes blinking, realizing that in another reality I could be dead right now, because of simple decision – jumping without looking.
just google “mario knezevic hero” we need more CPR-s do we? thanks
My youngest son was about 5 – we had taken the dog to Gold Creek for a run and my son was wadding at the waters edge. I was right there. I turned around to check on where the dog was. When I turned back my son was floating down stream in the fast running water. Pleading with his eyes for me to save him, begging me to help him. I kept lunging for him but the more I kept trying to grab him the further he was floating down stream. I knew I had one more chance and then he’d be gone. I lunged full body, he looked terrified. This time I grabbed him, barely hanging on to him and dragged us both back to shore. He was very traumatized and I was so distressed that my son had come to close to drowning. I will never forget that close call and am now much more aware and cautious around lakes, rivers and swimming pools.