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It Can Happen to Anyone…

Same story, different day. If you’ve been reading Newsday lately you may have noticed an article about a 3 year old boy drowning in a swimming pool near his grandparent’s house. He walked off for only a few moments while his older siblings ate lunch, but that was enough time for the unthinkable to happen. I wish I could say so, but this is not a freak occurrence by any means.

According to Good Housekeeping, drowning is the second-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death for kids 14 and younger. Kids can easily sneak away and, before you know it, end up wandering past an unlocked gate to an unsupervised swimming pool. It literally takes only a few seconds.

My Story

Something like this can even happen to the most knowledgeable pool owners. I grew up in the 80’s when swimming pool barrier regulations weren’t as stringent as they are now. Our backyard was fenced off from the front, but we didn’t have a fence immediately surrounding our swimming pool. Young Rocco, a chap of about 3 years of age, was outside enjoying a fine summer day when it just so happened that his father (the resident pool expert) and his mother (honestly, the best mom around) coincidentally let me escape from their mutual line of sight for only a few moments.

Where did I end up? Sitting 8 feet underwater like an amateur scuba diver admiring the calm seas above. I’m here today and able to write this blog for two reasons: (1) Though we didn’t have pool alarms back then, we had something called Waterbabies. My mom took me to these classes as an infant and somewhere between my bloodcurdling cries of terror and relentless flailing, I learned how to hold my breath underwater. Waterbabies, I never gave you the credit you deserved. Thank you. (2) Our very own Paul Romanelli pulled a David Hasselhoff and ripped me out of Waterworld and onto dry land in record time. Ask my mom, that was the fastest she’d ever seen him move!

Backup Plan

So, there you have it. Nobody is safe from experiencing something like this, not even a licensed swimming pool technician. Without a doubt, the best defense against drowning related injury or death is unwavering, steadfast SUPERVISION. But things happen – people get distracted, the phone rings, the burgers need to be flipped…sometimes we need a backup plan, just in case.

This is where pool and gate alarms come into play. These devices have the ability to detect and alert you when someone (or something) falls into your pool or gets past your gate. If you’re interested in getting one, Good Housekeeping has recently reviewed the best (and worst) pool and gate alarms out there. Click here to read the article. Of course, Paul Romanelli & Son Pool Service carries all of the alarms that you can read about in the article.

Swim safely and parents – stay vigilant out there!

Tags: gate alarm, pool alarm, pool fence, supervision, Waterbabies

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 at 12:24 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.