Drowning Risks: What You Need to Know and How P2P Rescue Helps

Did you know that drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional deaths with an estimated 360,000 annual drownings worldwide It’s a major public health problem we face, and there are plenty of people, groups, companies and organizations doing helping to prevent drowning, including P2P Rescue! Here’s a few things you should know about drowning risk in our world.

Risk Factors

Age: The three age categories that see the most drownings are 0-5, 20-25, and 60 and older. Drowning is the leading cause of death for toddlers and infants due to the inability to swim, poor adult supervision, and the lack of barriers separating young children from bodies of water. Inadequate supervision is another leading reason why older children are at risk for drowning, as parents sometimes overestimate how well their children obey safety rules when unsupervised. Ages 20-25 see an increase in risk because of participation in water sports and the tendency to be more reckless. For those older than 60, the risk is higher due to difficulty managing themselves in emergency water situations and potential health problems that can lead to heart attacks or low blood pressure while in the water.

Gender: Males are at a higher risk of drowning and are more likely to be hospitalized than females for non-fatal drowning. Studies suggest this is due to an increased exposure to water and generally riskier behavior, including swimming solo and drinking alcohol before swimming or operating a boat alone. Males are also more apt to participate in water sports and live near bodies of water for their careers.

Access to water: There’s always a higher risk when an individual’s occupation is around water, such as working in commercial fishing or using boats. Drowning risk also increases for those who live near open water sources, particularly children in such situations. There’s also a higher risk during warmer months when people travel to bodies of water for vacation and recreation.

Flooding disasters: 75% of drowning deaths occur from natural flooding situations like heavy rain, hurricanes, and tsunamis. This is especially true for people who live in areas that are prone to flooding and have limited options to evacuate.

Drowning Prevention

Although drowning takes a toll around the world, hundreds of thousands of lives are saved every year thanks to trained lifeguards and responders. At P2P Rescue, our goal is to help aid those lifesavers with our unique rescue board designs. From ocean to swift water to flooded conditions, each of our rescue boards are designed to withstand harsh environments and get responders to victims quickly. Take a look at all the boards we offer and see the difference P2P Rescue is making!

Wipeout Wearable: Quiksilver’s Inflatable Vest May Save Surfers’ Lives

 

Surf brand Quiksilver partnered with diving equipment manufacturer Aqua Lung to develop an inflatable flotation device. The Highline Airlift, a CO2-powered inflation vest, aims to lift surfers who fall on big waves. 

Most surfers don’t wear floatation devices, even on sizable waves. Quiksilver wants to change that with the Highline Airlift, an inflatable floatation device small and light enough that it does not encumber athletes riding big waves.

Announced today, Quiksilver claims the Highline Airlift “is the pinnacle of water safety technology.” It uses compressed CO2 to quickly inflate airbags in a manner similar to those used by backcountry skiers caught in avalanches.

It’s worth noting the brand calls out the fact that it is not (legally) considered a PFD in the U.S. or Australia, but is in the European Union. It is “part of a holistic approach to ocean safety.” 

Shared from Gear Junkie

 

First-ever indoor swiftwater rescue training facility opens in Austin

 Located in Austin Texas, Fathom Academy is a technologically advanced water training facility designed to improve flood and swiftwater rescue response and first responder techniques. Visit us at www.fathomacademy.com for more information.

Jet Ski Rescue Hurricane Harvey Texas

Great work as always from tthe professionals at K38

Assisting the Frisco and Plano Fire Departments and Fairview Firefighters from Strike team 122 with an in progress rescue of their swifwater incident. K38 Team Leader Shawn Alladio performing a swift water rescue 9/1/2017 in the Vidor area of Orange County Texas, Thank you for the Facebook LIVE capture of this event Patrick Ingram who was a vital team member, thank you for all your support Patrick. Kawasaki USA #JetSki

Our team had just arrived on the Interstate 10 overpass direct from California when one of the firemen responsible for working the swiftwater rescue ran over to our vehicle and said he needed a Jet Ski to get this man out of the strainer. Michael Spencer immediately drove the Jet Ski trailer to the submerged section of the Interstate near the onramp and the team quickly removed the Jetski with the help of Justin Wilson from Texas. Shawn while still in her clothes, grabbed a helmet, lifejacket and a pair of work gloves and drove to the scene and brought the man out.

Incidentally over a dozen vessels ended up in the treeline of which each subsequent day the water flow increased and the strainers became more deadly. There were multiple fire departments assisting this incident, we thank them for all the work they did during this flood event. The fireman gave excellent commands and were methodical in thier approach to working with us without introduction or knowledge of our team capability. They gave us a lot of trust as an unproven asset and we thank them.

Secret Service Water Rescue Detail Go Through Grueling Training on Outer Banks

 

Cole Yeatts shouted instructions to 10 Secret Service agents gathered on the beach under the afternoon sun – nine men, one woman, all lean. They were learning another way to save the president of the United States.

“Who are we looking for and what are we looking at?” Yeatts asked. “Victim and …?”

“Waves,” answered an agent.

“Correct: waves,” Yeatts echoed.

Five of the agents lined up behind five 2-foot-long orange rescue buoys and pairs of swim fins propped in the sand.

Yeatts, director of Kitty Hawk Ocean Rescue, counted down: “One, two, three, go!”

The agents grabbed their gear and sprinted into the surf. One tripped and fell, but quickly recovered. All struggled to slip on the fins as waves broke across their backs. Instructors representing victims stood in chest-deep water about 100 yards offshore.

“We don’t make it easy on them,” said Sean Donlon, a special agent and water rescue instructor. “The protectee does not care how much training we have – he just wants to be rescued.”

In a real emergency, the victim could be former presidents George H.W. Bush, who loves boating at the family property in Kennebunkport, Maine, or Barack Obama, who loves to body surf in the large waves in Hawaii where he grew up, or a member of the Donald Trump family at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla.

These agents voluntarily exchange dark suits and earpieces for swimsuits and sunscreen.  They pull duty on beaches in Hawaii or Tahiti rather than wearing a bulletproof vest while guarding a motorcade in the middle of a crowded city. A regular detail of agents guards the person being protected at the same time the water-rescue agents also keep watch, Donlon said.

Three weeks and three days of intense instruction and tests begin at a Washington, D.C., pool. Some don’t pass the initial swim test of covering 800 meters in 16 minutes, or the requirement to swim a length of a 25-meter pool underwater four separate times with a minute break between laps.

On the beach, the Kitty Hawk rescue team grills them for two days. They learn to retrieve a victim using a variety of grips and bring them to shore through the unforgiving Outer Banks surf where at least six people drowned last year. The class learns to recognize rip currents, and may intentionally dive into the strong outward flow to get to a victim more quickly.

“This is not like swimming a pool,” Yeatts said.

The group then goes to the Coast Guard’s Air Station Elizabeth City for three days’ training with the nation’s best rescue swimmers. There they learn to deploy from helicopters and wrestle victims into rescue baskets.

Elsewhere, agents also train for white-water rescues. Former Vice President Dick Cheney loves to fish in rivers with rapids.

“This is one of the most demanding fields of Secret Service training,” Donlon said.

Next fall, the same group learns emergency medical treatment, a first for Secret Service agents. They will learn how to handle spinal injuries and heart attacks as well as jellyfish stings.

Of the 3,200 Secret Service agents stationed around the globe, 75 serve on the water-rescue detail, Donlon said. Typically, about 10 percent are women.

Many of the trainees have been lifeguards or college swimmers. Most are in their mid-30s with experience as an agent, Special Agent Scott Healy said.

The Secret Service began water-rescue training during the George H.W. Bush administration, Donlon said. The Coast Guard conducted it in the early years and still oversees the overall curriculum. The class began coming to Kitty Hawk in 2003 at the recommendation of a senior Coast Guard official.

Shared from First in Freedom Daily

California Rescue Water Craft Training

A five day, 40-hour POST certified course designed to provide marine patrol officers with the skills and practical experience to safely operate rescue water craft in inland waters, rivers, and oceans. Participants will gain practical knowledge regarding nomenclature, pre and post operation inspections, personal protective equipment, accessories, trailering, and troubleshooting vessel operational concerns. The course will cover navigation rules, weight loads, centering, close quarter maneuvers, docking, reverse functions, towing, rescue, and safe underway procedures. Participant skills will be assessed daily throughout the on-water training modules in regards to their physical ability, decision making processes, and underway operability.

Uitemate - Float and Wait - Water Safety and Survival

 

March marks Red Cross Month, and it’s a great time to understand how to be prepared for all sorts of things. Senior Airman Sarah Mitchell dives into the Himberg Pool to learn how to stay safe in the water.