4-Year-Old Boy Drowns in Wave Pool at California Water Park

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Truthful Lies said:
But you're thinking about it..and that's the key! There will be friends that you talk to over the years that will mention pool parties, or have them themselves...you might just prevent a tragedy by advising them to hire a guard =)
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I definitely will Truthful Lies!!
Thanks for posting that!! I am sure I am not alone in never thinking of hiring a life guard for a home party:)
 
Amraann said:
Excellent suggestion!!! Even though I consider myself to be extremely water safety conscious I really don't think to hire a guard for a private pool party would have occurred to me.
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My brother in law had a pool party and BBQ at his home where children would be present. He hired a life guard.

Do you remember when a 4 year old child drowned at Tommy Lee's home during a birthday party for his son?
 
Truthful Lies said:
I went to Hollywood Hills...and Broward County was where I guarded. I've re-read my posts...and I'm sorry they sound so intense..water safety is the one thing I'm fanatical about. Glad you guys agree! =) Stay safe this summer...always hire a guard for pool parties..it's worth it.
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This is defintiely the trend out here in my area. Life guards are the way to go.
 
Boyzmomee said:
My brother in law had a pool party and BBQ at his home where children would be present. He hired a life guard.

Do you remember when a 4 year old child drowned at Tommy Lee's home during a birthday party for his son?
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Yeah..and they of all people could afford it..no excuse! If I had that kind of money..I'd have every single safety precaution in place that was available!
 
Truthful Lies said:
Yeah..and they of all people could afford it..no excuse! If I had that kind of money..I'd have every single safety precaution in place that was available!
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That was so sad. Of course they could afford it, but I'll bet they didn't even think about it. I know I wouldn't have if you had not brought up such a great idea.
 
Amraann said:
LOLOL
The only Nova school I know of in South Florida is the Branch of Nova University located in Down Town Miami :)
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The main campus of Nova U. is also in Davie (or at least it was the last time I was there). Although Nova U. is a private school, it was built on an old Navy air field, along with Nova High School and Nova Elementary (public schools). Broward Community College is also next door.

In the 1960s, the plan was to make the combined campuses a center for innovative education (and it was great for students because teachers were so enthused by the experimentation).

But that idea went the way of a lot of 60s dreams, though the university may still be very good, for all I know. The h.s. and elem. eventually became more or less regular, local schools.
 
Nova said:
The main campus of Nova U. is also in Davie (or at least it was the last time I was there). Although Nova U. is a private school, it was built on an old Navy air field, along with Nova High School and Nova Elementary (public schools). Broward Community College is also next door.

In the 1960s, the plan was to make the combined campuses a center for innovative education (and it was great for students because teachers were so enthused by the experimentation).

But that idea went the way of a lot of 60s dreams, though the university may still be very good, for all I know. The h.s. and elem. eventually became more or less regular, local schools.
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Nova, it's still there =) They've made a lot of improvements to it.
 
Truthful Lies said:
I went to Hollywood Hills...and Broward County was where I guarded. I've re-read my posts...and I'm sorry they sound so intense..water safety is the one thing I'm fanatical about. Glad you guys agree! =) Stay safe this summer...always hire a guard for pool parties..it's worth it.
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Obviously, much has changed since I live in Broward County. There were no hills in those days, in Hollywood or anywhere else. Isn't geology a wonder? :D
 
They are now requiring lifejackets for children 5 and under nationwide at wavepools after this unfortunate accident.
 
Who is "they". The chain you mean? I am just wondering who is regulating these parks. I am sure it depends on the state, city, location, ect. We are having a publicized case in a nearby city right now... a six year old drowned. From the reports I have read, it seems that another CHILD found him underneath a slide in around five feet of water when he was swimming underneath and spotted him. That child alerted a pool worker, who retrieved the child's body and started to try to save him. Who KNOWS how long he was under. What makes it worse than this one guys - is that the child's parents weren't even there - he was on a Boys and Girls Club field trip. He had just turned six years old two days prior. They are saying because this was a privately owned park, there are basically no regulations re: how many lifeguards are on duty (I think I read that there were two, and they were late to work that morning anyway!). Who even knows about the certifications. Also, Boy's and Girls Club staff (probably college kids put in charge of children 6 and 7 year old children) apparently did not have any one child assigned them specifically - so no one was probably really watching him from what I read. Very, very sad case.
http://www.joplinglobe.com/archivesearch/local_story_198194806.html

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/local_story_200233014.html

http://www.joplinglobe.com/archivesearch/local_story_202204844.html
http://www.joplinglobe.com/archivesearch/local_story_199213732.html

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/local_story_204223333.html
 
On Tuesday, Ethan Cory’s body was pulled out of five feet of water, the shallow end of a pool that sloped to a depth of 12 feet. The boy, who was just under 4 feet tall, was part of a group of 34 children ages 5 to 7 from the Boys and Girls Club of Southwest Missouri in Joplin.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/local_story_200233014.html

They took a group of 5 to 7 year olds to a pool where the shallow end was 5 feet? Poor kid was only 4 feet tall :(
 
Gina_M said:
On Tuesday, Ethan Cory’s body was pulled out of five feet of water, the shallow end of a pool that sloped to a depth of 12 feet. The boy, who was just under 4 feet tall, was part of a group of 34 children ages 5 to 7 from the Boys and Girls Club of Southwest Missouri in Joplin.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/local_story_200233014.html

They took a group of 5 to 7 year olds to a pool where the shallow end was 5 feet? Poor kid was only 4 feet tall :(
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Messed up, isn't it? I've never been to that park, but he definetly wasn't wearing a life vest in that water... and it was over his head. Poor baby. What makes it worse is that he was entrusted to the Club to take care of him - and it didn't happen for whatever reason. There are about, oh... I think at least 3 public pools in that town with very shallow ends. Why didn't they just go there? I have debated almost starting a thread just for this story.
 
pedinurse said:
Who is "they". The chain you mean? I am just wondering who is regulating these parks. I am sure it depends on the state, city, location, ect. We are having a publicized case in a nearby city right now... a six year old drowned. From the reports I have read, it seems that another CHILD found him underneath a slide in around five feet of water when he was swimming underneath and spotted him. That child alerted a pool worker, who retrieved the child's body and started to try to save him. Who KNOWS how long he was under. What makes it worse than this one guys - is that the child's parents weren't even there - he was on a Boys and Girls Club field trip. He had just turned six years old two days prior. They are saying because this was a privately owned park, there are basically no regulations re: how many lifeguards are on duty (I think I read that there were two, and they were late to work that morning anyway!). Who even knows about the certifications. Also, Boy's and Girls Club staff (probably college kids put in charge of children 6 and 7 year old children) apparently did not have any one child assigned them specifically - so no one was probably really watching him from what I read. Very, very sad case.
http://www.joplinglobe.com/archivesearch/local_story_198194806.html

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/local_story_200233014.html

http://www.joplinglobe.com/archivesearch/local_story_202204844.html
http://www.joplinglobe.com/archivesearch/local_story_199213732.html

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/local_story_204223333.html
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I heard that Great America where this incident happened has now reopened with that new rule in addition, asks parents to supervise their children. As a result of these drownings, wavepools in Amusement parks and Water parks are now required to do the same Nationwide. Whether other states are going to follow this policy remains to be seen.
 
Less than a week after the drowning of a 4-year-old boy in Great America's wave pool, a San Jose legislator said Tuesday that she would introduce a bill aimed at making wave pools safer, including rules requiring life vests and setting requirements for the number of lifeguards on hand.
"Parents have a false sense of safety that their children are safe and protected in these wave pools," said Democratic state Sen. Elaine Alquist.

She envisions a bill that would:
Require life vests for non-swimmers or children under 4 feet tall.
Prohibit children under a certain height or age from being in a pool unattended.
Set a required ratio for the number of lifeguards per swimmer.
Require parks to set off an alarm or signal before waves start.

Great America already rings a bell. As of this week, the Santa Clara park began requiring life vests for children under 4 feet tall for the wave pool and the Castaway Creek river ride, said park spokesman Gene Fruge`. The requirement is now in effect at wave pools and some other water rides at all of Ohio-based Cedar Fair's 18 parks, as well as at nine water parks owned by Palace Entertainment, including San Jose's Raging Waters.


More at link:

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_6401692
 
Nova,
Its good to see that there are others from Broward Cty Fl here, I was raised in Plantation, went to So Plantation High many years ago.
 
Gina_M said:
Less than a week after the drowning of a 4-year-old boy in Great America's wave pool, a San Jose legislator said Tuesday that she would introduce a bill aimed at making wave pools safer, including rules requiring life vests and setting requirements for the number of lifeguards on hand.
"Parents have a false sense of safety that their children are safe and protected in these wave pools," said Democratic state Sen. Elaine Alquist.

She envisions a bill that would:
Require life vests for non-swimmers or children under 4 feet tall.
Prohibit children under a certain height or age from being in a pool unattended.
Set a required ratio for the number of lifeguards per swimmer.
Require parks to set off an alarm or signal before waves start.

Great America already rings a bell. As of this week, the Santa Clara park began requiring life vests for children under 4 feet tall for the wave pool and the Castaway Creek river ride, said park spokesman Gene Fruge`. The requirement is now in effect at wave pools and some other water rides at all of Ohio-based Cedar Fair's 18 parks, as well as at nine water parks owned by Palace Entertainment, including San Jose's Raging Waters.


More at link:

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_6401692
Click to expand...

All of these things are great, but do no good unless the parents actually follow the law! The water parks by us also already have an alarm before the waves start, they have free life jackets at stations all over the park that you can just walk up and borrow - no need for a deposit or anything. And there are signs all over the place about no unattended children under 12 (I think it's 12). I assume a ratio of lifeguards to children is in their hiring and employee practices, so increasing that is the only possibility there.

I agree with the above posters that we can wring our hands and gnash our teeth all we want, but when mom is sunbathing and chatting while her 4 yo drowns in the wavepool, technology and legislation isn't the problem.
 
Nova said:
Me, too. For whatever reason, my younger brother and sister never took to the water and didn't learn to swim until they were older. Since there was water everywhere in South Fla., I grew up having nightmares about finding them in pools, canals and the ocean.
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We moved to Florida from Indiana when my son was 6. Up until that time he was extremely terrified of water. I had a terrible fear of him drowning. There was another family in the neighborhood that had mooved her the same time that we had and lived next door. The husband was a very large bald biker type dude. One day I had my son at the pool and he was throwing an absolute screaming fit. He was not going to learn to swim no matter what I did. The neighbor man looked at me and said "Go home, I will have him swimming in less than an hour." I left and an hour later my son came home riding on this mans shoulders with a huge smile on his face telling me that he could swim. To this day I am not sure how he did it, I never asked. I think he just threw him in and said swim!
 
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