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Vernon News

Local nurses promote water safety

Parachute's Safe Kids Week is a national public awareness campaign designed to raise awareness about the frequency and severity of preventable childhood injuries. This year Safe Kids Week, June 7-14,  focuses on water safety and drowning prevention. Drowning is the second leading cause of injury related deaths for Canadian children.

Ninety percent of all shallow drowning's occur when an adult is not supervising.  Vernon public health highlights Safe Kids Week each year through an educational campaign held at the Kindergarten Fair. Key water safety tips to prevent childhood drowning are:

-  Stay Close, Keep in Sight and Listen: Active supervision is key. Kids overestimate their skills and underestimate their environments like water depth or strength of current.
-  Life Jackets are Life Savers. Young children under five and weak swimmers should wear lifejackets when they are in, on or around the water.
-  Fence it, Prevent It! Install a four-sided pool fence around your backyard pool. Researchers estimate that 7 out of 10 child drownings can be prevented with four-sided pool fencing.
-  Know How to Swim. While it doesn’t replace active adult supervision, swimming lessons allow children to gain confidence around water and learn swimming strokes and water skills.
-  Be Prepared. Get trained in water skills, swimming skills, CPR and first aid. It could help save a life.

As part of the campaign Vernon Public Health Nursing raffled off a children's life jacket; Colette Burnham, age 5 was this year's lucky winner.

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