With summer break entering full swing, pool days are bound to be on your itinerary.
Despite the sunny days ahead, a recent report from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission found that 371 children die each year by drowning in pools and spas.
It’s an unfortunate statistic that Chezik Tsunoda knows all too well.
She lost her 3-year-old son Yori in 2018, after he drowned in a backyard pool.
“He was just full of joy and energy,” she reflected. “When you lose a child this way, it’s incredibly painful and challenging to talk about. Often times, at least in my case, there was something that I could have done to save my child, and it just didn’t end up working out that way.”
Grappling with the loss of her son, Tsunoda created No More Under, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing child drowning deaths.
Tsunoda said that drownings are 100% preventable, adding that parents need to learn CPR and should ensure that their child knows how to swim.
Alex Hoehn-Saric is chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. He said that parents need to keep an eye on their little ones.
“We like to say have a designated water watcher, an adult who is focused on the kids — not reading a book or looking at the phone,” Hoehn-Saric explained.
The CPSC report also found racial disparities, Black children make up 21% of all drowning deaths.
