Parents and guardians should be aware of drowning risks and keep children within their sight when swimming, whether at the beach or the pool, or in the bathtub, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said.
Ministry of Health and Welfare data released last year showed that accidental injuries ranked first as the cause of death for children aged one to five, but the number of accidental deaths due to drowning had decreased to one last year from eight in 2023.
That reduction showed that the public has made significant progress in preventing drowning deaths in that age group, the HPA said.
Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Government Water Resources Department
However, the safety of young children playing in water remains a top priority, it said, urging parents to accompany children at all times and keep an eye on them while swimming.
Children can drown in as little as 10cm of water, said Lee Jung (李嶸), attending pediatrics physician at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口).
Lee described a case in which parents had left their two children aged about one and three years old in the bathtub for a brief time.
However, the older child turned on the tap, allowing enough water for the younger child to drown, he said.
The HPA provided 10 tips to help prevent drownings: Only swim at legally designated sites with a lifeguard and rescue equipment; avoid dangerous behaviors, such as diving into the water; take extra caution in lakes and streams, as waters levels can fluctuate greatly; do not swim alone and keep an eye on companions; warm up before entering the water and do not swim in jeans; do not play pranks on people in the water; do not swim when tired; do not stay in the water too long, to prevent hypothermia; pay attention to weather reports and do not stay in the water in poor weather; learn to swim and float; and remain calm if you fall into the water.
In a possible drowning situation, make sure you are safe before following the five steps of aiding someone who is drowning: “yell,” “call,” “reach,” “throw” and “row.”
After first shouting out to nearby people for help, contact emergency rescue hotlines 119, 118, 110 and 112. In the “reach” portion, use bamboo poles, branches or other long, extending items to reach the drowning person. Next, find flotation devices, rope, balls, bottles or similar objects to throw to the person. Finally, if there is a boat, lifebuoys, large driftwood or similar objects, use them to row to the person.
After pulling a drowning person ashore, administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), the HPA said.
For children, administer two breaths after every 30 compressions, aiming to perform 100 to 120 compressions per minute at a depth of about one-third the thickness of the chest cavity, Lee said.
Allow the chest to fully rebound between compressions and avoid continuous pressure to allow the blood to return to the chest area, he said.
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