By Shereen Siewert
Officials in Weston say a review of procedures following the near-drowning of a 4-year-old girl this summer does not point to necessary changes, though young swimmers will now wear bright red wristbands for easier identification.
Everest Metro Police Chief Clay Schulz said officers and SAFER ambulance crews were responded at about 6:20 p.m. June 23 to the swimming area at the Weston Aquatic Center, 5815 Alta Verde St., after a 911 call. The first officer arrived on scene in less than three minutes, Schulz said.
Initially, Schulz told Wausau Pilot & Review a lifeguard pulled the child from the pool. But a more complete report showed that a bystander rescued the child, who was not breathing and appeared not to have a pulse when pulled to safety. Video reviewed by Wausau Pilot & Review showed lifeguards were about five seconds behind and performed lifesaving measures at the side of the pool.
After receiving compressions, the child vomited and began to cry, officials said. EMTs arrived on scene about two minutes after the incident began. Abby Tesch, senior aquatics director at the YMCA said she is proud of the way pool staff responded.
“These teenage lifeguards did exactly what they were trained to do,” Tesch said. “This was not a missed opportunity.”
The YMCA began providing lifeguards for Weston in 2020 amid a nationwide lifeguard shortage. All lifeguards at Weston undergo standard Red Cross training as well as a facility-specific four-day training before the pool opens for the summer. Each week, lifeguards also participate in in-service programs to run through potential lifesaving scenarios, Tesch said.
Weston Parks Director Shawn Osterbrink said the partnership has allowed for more seasoned lifeguards at the pool who are ready to go on day one, as many guards working at the Aquatic Center are also YMCA lifeguards throughout the remainder of the season.
Osterbrink said that any transport from the facility results in a required report to the state and a health department review. The Marathon County Health Department completed the review and recommended no changes in staffing levels.
But Tesch said that even without a recommendation, Weston implemented the new wristband requirement and also began distributing literature to all parents with small children alerting them to free lifejacket rentals at the pool to encourage their use. The printout explains protocols and procedures and lets parents know where to find lifejackets, which are also available for adult use.
Tesch said that even in the best conditions, scanning challenges exist at every pool. Lifeguards are positioned to reach anyone in the water within 30 seconds. Visual obstacles are common as children quickly move about the pool.
“We are constantly working on prevention strategies and working to find the best possible coverage and vantage point for lifeguards,” Tesch said.
After the near-drowning report, some residents openly questioned whether the pool staff acted accordingly and lashed out on social media, criticizing the lifeguards’ actions. One person accused a lifeguard of reading while guarding, but a review of video footage from the incident shows that did not happen.
In Weston, lifeguards rescue distressed swimmers from the Aquatic Center roughly every two days. Swimmers age 5 and younger wear a blue wristband, with the youngest swimmers now wearing red.
Color matters
Experts say the color of a child’s swimsuit can play a crucial role in water and pool safety, a point Tesch said she wishes more parents would know.
Alive Solutions Inc., a group that specializes in water safety training and education, tested more than a dozen different colored swimsuits to show how difficult they may be to spot in different bodies of water. Their tests revealed that neon colors offer some of the best visibility.
Swimsuits were tested in pools with both a light and a dark bottom. In a light-bottomed pool, the group reports that neon pink and orange swimsuits offer the best visibility under the water, while the colors white and blue performed most poorly.
“Water can perform a magic trick of making things disappear,” a post on the company’s Instagram explains. “We hear in drowning events that the responder thought the person was a shadow, a towel or a pile of leaves on the bottom, when in reality it was a person and the water was playing a trick on us. This can cause a delay in response or a lack of response.”
Drowning is a leading cause of death for children ages 1-14, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with children ages 1-4 at the highest risk in the group.
Lyndsey Frey at Akron Children’s Hospital said drowning is quick and silent — unlike what you see in the movies. Children bob up and down just at the surface trying to get air; they are not splashing around yelling for help. Just below the surface, some swimsuit colors can actually look like a cluster of leaves or debris, and not a struggling child. Other colors can virtually disappear in water.
Natalie Livingston, a water safety educator and the co-founder of Alive Solutions Inc., said that in addition to supervising children in the pool and teaching them how to swim, there are several other things parents and caregivers can do to help ensure safety, including:
- Teaching kids how to gauge depth versus their height.
- Using life jackets.
- Limiting access to water with proper barriers or fences.
- Being selective about who is allowed to supervise kids in the water.
- Teaching kids how to get away if another swimmer grabs onto them.
Tesch said the child who nearly drowned is doing well and was back at the pool days later with her family.
“We are incredibly grateful to everyone who acted,” Tesch said.
