Tag Archive for: water safety education

British Swim School Partners with Leading Drowning Prevention Organization

British Swim School Partners With Leading Drowning Prevention Organization

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., Sept. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — British Swim School, the nation’s leading “learn to swim” franchise company, is excited to announce its partnership with the National Drowning Prevention Alliance, an organization with the goal of reducing the incidence of drowning and aquatic injuries in the United States and abroad.

British Swim School is the first franchise swim school to join with the NDPA in this mission and plans to use its vast resources to further education about drowning and aquatic injuries.

“The NDPA shares our core mission, which is educating the community about drowning prevention and survival skills,” said Melissa McGarvey, Director of Aquatics for British Swim School. “We are excited about this partnership because it will allow us to share information developed by our combined team of experts. This will only make us stronger as we work to spread the important message of water safety and decreasing avoidable drownings.”

The NDPA organizes swim safety education events on a national and international level and also offers swim safety tips and other educational materials online.

“British Swim School truly has a mission of keeping people in the community safe around water,” said Adam Katchmarchi, Executive Director of the NDPA. “They have locations across the country, so we thought they would be the perfect swim school to team up with. We are eager to see what we can accomplish with a collective effort.”

British Swim School, a premier swim school franchise, launched in England in 1981. It was then brought to the U.S. and Canada and eventually grew to more than 200 locations.

Research shows that participation in formal swim programs, such as those offered by British Swim School, can reduce the risk of drowning by 88 percent among children who are most at risk for accidental death by drowning. Students are placed in classes based on skill level.

For more information, visit British Swim School.

About British Swim School

British Swim School’s mission is to teach water safety and survival skills to children as young as 3 months old. Rita Goldberg founded British Swim School in 1981 and developed the unique and highly effective teaching methods that are a recognized trademark of the brand today. Acquired by Buzz Franchise Brands in early 2019, British Swim School is the latest addition to the Buzz Franchise Brands family, which includes Pool Scouts, a pool cleaning and maintenance company, and Home Clean Heroes, a residential cleaning company. British Swim School currently operates over 215 schools across the United States and Canada. For more information about British Swim School, visit British Swim School. To learn more about the benefits of British Swim School’s franchising opportunities, visit British Swim School Franchise/. For more information about Buzz Franchise Brands, visit Buzz Franchise Brands

About NDPA

The mission of the National Drowning Prevention Alliance (NDPA) is “United, we can prevent the tragedy of drowning.” We believe that together we can reduce the incidence of drowning and aquatic injuries in the United States and abroad. Join us to help save lives! To learn more about the NDPA, please visit NDPA. To learn more about our annual national conference, please visit National Water Safety Conference.

Media Contact

Mandy Cline, 919 Marketing, 919-377-9587, mcline@919marketing.com

SOURCE British Swim School

PHTA President & CEO Sabeena Hickman Elected to National Drowning Prevention Alliance Board

PHTA President & CEO Sabeena Hickman Elected to NDPA Board

(Alexandria, Va.) – The Pool & Hot Tub Alliance (PHTA) is pleased to announce that its president and CEO, Sabeena Hickman, CAE, has been elected to the National Drowning Prevention Alliance (NDPA) Board of Directors.

NDPA’s mission statement is, “United, we can prevent the tragedy of drowning.” Drowning is the number one cause of accidental death for children ages 1–4, and number two for children up to age 14. NDPA says, “Not one more drowning.” It works closely with families who have lost loved ones to advocate for safer aquatic practices and provides a wide range of resources on drowning prevention.

Hickman joins seven other outstanding individuals on the NDPA Board of Directors who work in different parts of the pool industry, healthcare, and emergency services. Together, this group is committed to expanding and promoting NDPA’s lifesaving work.

Hickman was selected in part due to her work in expanding the Step Into Swim initiative and her belief that those working in the pool and hot tub industry should take a lead in drowning prevention efforts.

“As an alliance, we want to make sure that all facets of the pool and hot tub industry are included in the discussions about water safety,” explains Dr. Adam Katchmarchi, Executive Director, NDPA. “There is a close connection between NDPA and PHTA and what we’re both trying to achieve with water safety. We are pleased to have Hickman’s voice on our board to represent the industry. Also, on an individual level, Hickman’s nonprofit and association management experience will be incredibly valuable to our organization.”

“I am honored to serve on the NDPA Board of Directors,” says Hickman. “Drowning prevention should be top of mind for everyone in the pool and hot tub industry. We have a commitment to not just manufacture, build, or service pools and hot tubs, but to educate the public on using them safely. We can all play a role in preventing drownings and saving lives.”

To learn more about NDPA, visit ndpa.org.

For more information, please contact Janay Rickwalder, PHTA’s Vice President of Marketing and Communications, at jrickwalder@phta.org or 703.357.3918.

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About the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance 

The Pool & Hot Tub Alliance (PHTA), a non-profit organization with nearly 3,500 members from around the world, was established in 1956 to support, promote, and protect the common interests of the $36.5B pool, hot tub and spa industry. PHTA provides education, advocacy, standards development, research, and market growth to increase our members’ professionalism, knowledge and profitability. Additionally, PHTA facilitates the expansion of swimming, water safety and related research and outreach activities aimed at introducing more people to swimming, making swimming environments safer and keeping pools open to serve communities. For more information, visit www.phta.org. 

Total Aquatic Programming & NDPA Join Together To Improve The Collection Of Drowning Data

Total Aquatic Programming & NDPA Join Together On Drowning Data

People and organizations in the drowning prevention and water safety space are well aware of the limitation of drowning statistics. Drowning data is not universally collected or classified mainly due the sheer nature of drowning which makes counting on reliable data extremely difficult. Few organizations have taken on the task to gather and distribute data pertaining to drowning and Total Aquatics Programming LLC is currently one of the most well known, respected and reliable sources.

Total Aquatic Programming and National Drowning Prevention Alliance Board of Directors have joined together to improve the “The Drowning Report” data. 

TAP has been collecting drowning data since 2008. This process involves about 1100-man hours per year plus cost for programs and support. They have recently faced the following challenges which have impelled them to rethink and reconsider the process in order to be more effective:

  • Some of the thousands of websites visited to gather report data have now  started charging subscription fees. While these are only .99 cents a week, they add up over the period of a year. 
  • Due to the number of sites consulted to gather information and download reports, TAP has been exposed (multiple times) to viruses and have had to move to enterprise grade protection. 
  • TAP users have requested many features that the organization was not able to offer before and is currently preparing to do: possibility of custom reports, online searchability features, ease of access and more.

It is time for TAP LLC to update the way they not only collect but also present the data gathered. This has a cost that they cannot totally absorb, and after talking to many users it is too important to just lose! They are nearly ready to move to a subscription-based model with an cost of $99.95 per year that will offer subscribers all the information they are used to plus:

  • Report filtering options
  • Custom reports (emailed on a customer set schedule)
  • Ability to submit drownings (requires approval)
  • Online and accessible 24/7 – no more waiting for the first of the month
  • Enhanced field logic
  • Alert notifications (new drownings in your area)
  • Much, Much More!

The new membership model will become effective by June 2021 with May 2021 featuring the last free version of drowning reports. NDPA premium members & all partners will be able to access the new database through their existing NDPA membership.

We hope this is a valuable service that you will continue to use. The new features will also allow members to more easily extract local data and customize reports.

Sign up is coming soon so be on the lookout!

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Bringing Diversity To Aquatics

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states the sad fact that more than 3,500 people drown each year in the U.S, making drowning the leading cause of death in children 1 – 4 years old. Even more sad, minorities drown at a rate three times higher than their peers.

Diversity is directly linked to the opportunity to be water safe. As we are well aware, aquatics suffers from lack of diversity, enforcing a system where the access to learning how to swim and gain water competency are not the same for everyone.

Between 1999-2010, the fatal unintentional drowning rate for African Americans was significantly higher than that of whites across all ages. The disparity is widest among children 5-18 years old and is most pronounced in swimming pools. African American children 5-19 drown in swimming pools at rates 5.5 times higher than those of whites. This disparity is greatest among those 11-12 years in which African Americans drown in swimming pools at rates 10 times those of whites.(1)

Factors such as access to swimming pools, the desire or lack of desire to learn how to swim, and choosing water-related recreational activities may contribute to the racial differences in drowning rates. Available rates are based on population, not on participation. If rates could be determined by actual participation in water-related activities, the disparity in minorities’ drowning rates compared to whites would be much greater.(2)

Many organizations and advocates are striving to bring swimming to minority communities and thus reduce the incidence of drowning among them. Here are a few that you can support:

Diversity In Aquatics 

The drowning and participation gaps in aquatics mirror the disparities we find in public health and education, often ignoring the ongoing historical issues of race, socioeconomic circumstances, and cultural stereotyping. Therefore, a revamped focus is needed to address and help curve the current gaps found in aquatics.

Founded by Dr. Shaun Anderson and Jayson Jackson in 2010, Diversity In Aquatics is an organization built to develop a network to help save lives by empowering communities to have equitable access to quality aquatic opportunities. They work to address historical policies and practices that impact resource allocation and access to public spaces to understand present-day aquatic disparities.

Afroswimmers

AfroSwimmers is a swim movement that offers lessons and aquatic wellness services for people of color, founded by swim coach and aquatic healer Noelle Singleton.

AfroSwimmers boasts a facility in Atlanta where programs — including competitive coaching, aquatic therapy, and private swimming lessons — are offered to help break down barriers between the Black community and swimming.

Black People Will Swim

Black People Will Swim’s sole mission is plain and simple: it’s smashing the stereotype that Black people don’t swim. Their end game is to make a difference in the world of aquatics.

They aim to do this through a number of ways with their acronym F.A.C.E. encouraging their community to FACE their fears.

Swim Uphill

Founded by paralympic swimmer Jamal Hill, this organization has made it its mission to take justice against senseless drownings by promoting water safety competency through the Swim Uphill method in underserved communities around the globe.

Black Kids Swim

Black Kids Swim is a 501c3 organization based in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Their mission is to increase Black participation in the sport of competitive swimming. They also offer their consultancy services to aquatic facilities that wish to include a diverse group of adults and/or children to their programs.

The Josh Project

The Josh Project is a drowning prevention agency dedicated to water safety training and education. Their mission is to build basic swimming skills and knowledge of water safety to prevent drowning.

SwemKids

SwemKids is nonprofit school-based program that teaches children introductory swimming lessons and water safety skills as a part of their school’s curriculum. This model ensures that children are exposed to the water early and gain important life-saving skills to make sure they are safe while having fun!

Black Swimming Association

The Black Swimming Association (BSA) is a non-profit organisation set up to promote education among the Black community as well as other ethnic minority communities on water safety and drowning prevention measures.

They strive to ensure that the issues that preclude these communities from engaging in aquatics are researched, understood and  adequately addressed to promote inclusion and change.

  1. Gilchrist J, Parker EM. Racial/ethnic disparities in fatal unintentional drowning among persons aged ≤29 years—United States, 1999–2010. MMWR 2014;63:421–6.
  1. Branche CM, Dellinger AM, Sleet DA, Gilchrist J, Olson SJ. Unintentional injuries: the burden, risks and preventive strategies to address diversity. In: Livingston IL, editor.  Praeger handbook of Black American health (2nd edition): Policies and issues behind disparities in health. Westport (CT): Praeger Publishers; 2004. p. 317-27.
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5 Ways You Can Support The NDPA

Drowning is a complex problem. To be effective, organizations need to leverage their strengths and work together to have the greatest impact.

The NDPA can help you make those connections and to have the greatest impact.  Join the alliance and empower your communities to take more action, touch more lives, and make an even greater difference.

Become An NDPA Member

By becoming an NDPA member (Basic or Premium) you or your organization will be contributing to the NDPA’s overall mission to prevent drowning and gain access to resources that advance drowning prevention. Drowning IS Preventable, and with your membership and support, we can work together to help save lives.

Become An NDPA Partner

Organizational partners of the NDPA are the backbone of our organization. The National Drowning Prevention Alliance is very excited to partner with your organization or company and work together for the common goal of ZERO drownings. As the NDPA starts a new phase of growth as an organization we welcome the opportunity to seek out new partners that will be help the NDPA on this journey to provide educational resources, increase water safety, and expand our impact towards water safety and drowning prevention for people of all ages and walks of life.

Become An NDPA Sponsor

There are a number of ways you can help support the work of the NDPA and our annual conference. To learn more about sponsorship opportunities, please download and view our annual sponsorship guide or our annual major gift guide 

Make The NDPA Your Amazon Smile

Make the NDPA your Amazon Smile and each time you make an eligible purchase on Amazon the NDPA will receive a percentage of your purchase total as a donation. It’s as simple as clicking the link below to make the NDPA your Amazon Smile. Shop and support the NDPA at the same time!

Make a Donation

The NDPA also relies on donations from our members, friends, and supporters to continue our work. With your support we can continue to bring people, groups, and leaders together to prevent drownings. Remember our mission – “Together WE can PREVENT the tragedy of drowning!”

2021 National Water Safety Conference Updates

As you know, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NDPA transitioned the 2020 National Water Safety Conference to an online delivery format. We felt a duty to provide high quality education, networking, and training no matter the circumstances. In less than 3-weeks our conference team raised up to meet this unforeseen challenge and successfully delivered the first virtual conference in our industry. Our speakers, exhibitors, and attendees proved that water safety was so important even during an unprecedented situation. The 2020 National Water Safety Conference increased attendance by 30% over the previous year’s conference and also provided attendees with over 60 high quality sessions that remained available for 5 months post conference.

2021 National Water Safety Conference
March 29 – April 1, 2021

Given the unpredictable and extended nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NDPA has made the decision to transition the 2021 National Water Safety Conference to an online delivery format, similar to the 2020 conference. We believe it is the best decision for our attendees, speakers, sponsors, and our organization. By making this decision now, we will allow our conference team over 5 months to plan and organize a conference that will no-doubt be even better than last year’s event. You can be assured that our conference team will deliver a virtual conference experience second to none. Here are some highlights you can expect at the 2021 National Water Safety Conference Online:

  • 60+ educational sessions, trainings, and workshops.
  • A full day of the conference focused on the U.S. National Water Safety Action Plan
  • Multiple live keynotes, general session speakers, and panel discussions; including a panel discussion with government officials, politicians, and policy makers on drowning prevention legislation and advocacy.
  • Numerous interactive networking events to expand your professional network in water safety.
  • A redesigned interactive exhibit hall that allows even more meaningful interactions and connections with our sponsors and exhibitors.
  • 5 months of post conference access to sessions. No more missed sessions and no more trying to soak up all the education at once.

Registration information will be available soon on www.WaterSafetyConference.com.

2021 Drowning Prevention Symposium (NEW)
San Diego, CA

September 13-14, 2021

We are extremely proud and excited to announce the first Drowning Prevention Symposium presented by NDPA. This new two-day autumn event is designed to bring together advocates, professionals, and leaders directly after the summer season. This smaller and seasonal event will focus on education, advocacy work, and sharing among the participants to better align drowning prevention efforts around the country. The first event will be held in-person in September of 2021 at the San Diego Mission Bay Resort. Mark the dates on your calendar and keep an eye out for more information in the near future. We can’t wait to be back in-person with you!

Thank you for your on-going support of water safety, the NDPA, and our conferences/events. We look forward to bringing you the best conferences and events yet in 2021.

Stay safe & stay well!

NDPA Conference Team

Every Child a Swimmer – Petition

The following is a petition available via Change.org relating to the need to teach every child how to swim in the state of Florida:

Click here to access this petition and learn more!

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Water Safety Educational Resources

water safety educational resources

Why is having access to water safety educational resources so important?

Because teaching kids, teens and even adults how to be safe near and in the water as well as what to do if anything ever goes wrong is paramount to prevent unintentional drowning incidents, both fatal and non-fatal. 

The following water safety educational resources have been designed to offer proper guidance in the matter and can be added to any school or homeschool curriculum.

Stop Drowning Now

The Safer 3 in the classroom

Stop Drowning Now’s Water Safety Curriculum teaches kids how to recognize drowning risks and to protect themselves and others. The Curriculum is specifically designed for young kids’ learning needs. Through an experiential approach, kids participate in the discovery and identification process, and learn preventative measures as well as emergency responses.

Water Safety In The Classroom

Water Safety in the Classroom is designed to help educators to teach water safety to children ages 2-14. All the methods discussed in this course are appropriate for teaching in a classroom setting, no pool or access to water is required.

Water Safety With Colin & Friends

Water Safety With Colin & Friends is a comprehensive water safety education tool. The classroom-based curriculum focuses on 5 key rules that can help children make safer choices around all types of water, such as waiting for an adult before going in or near water and wearing a life jacket. The full kit includes activities like songs, water safety games, and even a science experiment. The program is evidence-based, continues to be evaluated for efficacy, and has been proven with statistical significance to increase children’s water safety knowledge!

Teach Water Safety With Colin & Friends!

Colin’s Hope has also launched a new website that offers FREE water safety education lessons in English and Spanish to parents, caregivers, teachers, swim instructors, camp counselors and children. Curriculum resources can be downloaded and taught or users can watch videos online and use the interactive and digital curriculum and let the Colin’s Hope team teach each lesson. Two lessons have been launched so far, with new lessons launching each month.

Home

Kidshealth In The Classroom

KidsHealth in the Classroom by Nemours offers educators free health-related lesson plans for PreK through 12th grade. Each Teacher’s Guide includes discussion questions, classroom activities and extensions, printable handouts, and quizzes and answer keys all aligned to National Health Education Standards.

For water safety educational resources search under Personal Health.

Josh The Otter Water Safety & Awareness Project

Drowning is preventable. Teach this life-saving message.


Demonstrate the importance of water safety with Josh the Baby Otter. This guide will help you educate young children about drowning prevention through a fun and interactive classroom activity.

Pool Safely Educational Materials

Pool Safely’s Educational Materials make it simple to share information about water safety that could save a life. Distribute the variety of items at public pools and spas and share them with friends and neighbors.

Water Smart Education Toolkit

Curriculum materials to teach Water Safety have been developed by Royal Life Saving Australia together with education resource specialists, teachers and water safety instructors.

The teaching resources in the Water Smart education toolkit outline appropriate learning outcomes and have taken into consideration the new Australian National Curriculum for all years from Foundation to Year 10. The key components of the resource toolkit include Units of Work, Teachers Notes, Activity Sheets, Safety Tips and Supplementary Resources.

Curriculum Swimming and Water Safety Resource Pack

Swim England and the Swim Group have created a resource pack for all those involved in the delivery of curriculum swimming and water safety.

The resource pack has been split into four to provide dedicated information for each  group. Each section provides practical guidance on how to plan, deliver and report on curriculum swimming and water safety.

Curriculum Swimming and Water Safety Resource Pack

Water Safety Resources 

Teachers Pay Teachers is a great database for educators to find the resources, knowledge, and inspiration they need to teach at their best. They offer more than 3 million free and paid resources, created by educators who understand what works in the classroom and have a great selection of water safety materials that can be used in the classroom for kids from PreK to 12th grade.

Water safety resources for teachers

Water Safety for Kids

The American Red Cross offers resources to help your child learn about water safety while having fun in and around water.

Find more resources and materials on the NDPA Resource Center.

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New PSA From Abbey’s HOPE Offers Chilling, Timely Reminder

Abbey's Hope PSA

The water safety non-profit reminds parents and caregivers to avoid distracted supervision around pools.

MINNEAPOLIS—There’s a perfect storm of circumstances conspiring against adults’ ability to keep kids safe around pools and lakes this summer. Electronic devices continue to dominate our attention. And the COVID-19 pandemic has more adults working from home and supervising their children at the same time. For those with backyard pools, this poses an especially significant danger which has been brought to life in a chilling PSA from Abbey’s Hope.

The 30-second spot, “Watch Me!” features an all-too familiar scene: a distracted mom on the phone, laptop open as her young child splashes in the water, clamoring for her attention. What happens next is summed up by a provocative message superimposed on screen: “88% of child drownings occur with an adult nearby. 100% of those adults will never forgive themselves.” The spot concludes by inviting the viewer to become a Water Watchdog, which is an active supervision program started by Abbey’s Hope. To date, nearly 10,000 people have registered to take the pledge and receive their iconic Abbey’s Hope Water Watchdog ‘dog tag,’ a tangible reminder of the need to be vigilant when supervising children around water.

“It’s sadly ironic that we often tell our kids that we’re watching them, when we’re not,” said Katey Taylor, who along with husband Scott Taylor, founded Abbey’s Hope Charitable Foundation in response to the tragic death of their daughter, Abbey, following a pool drain entrapment incident in 2007. Taylor added, “Vigilant supervision has never been more important or required greater discipline, given the world we live in.”

 Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death for children ages one to four.  According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, there were 379 pool- or spa-related fatal drownings reported per year for 2015 through 2017, involving children younger than 15 years of age.  The vast majority of those deaths were to children ages 4 and under.

The PSA will launch 7/20/20 on social media and is free to use and can be accessed at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZgSYeaUqWc  It also will be broadcast on local television during the summer months when pool and lake usage is at its peak. 

About Abbey’s Hope:
Abbey’s Hope Charitable Foundation is a Minnesota nonprofit organization named after Abbey Taylor, the Edina, Minn., six-year-old who died in 2008 as a result of injuries sustained by an improperly maintained pool drain cover. 

The Foundation’s goal is to: 

●      Promote awareness of, and education, related to child safety issues, including educating pool owners, operators, inspectors, and the general public about the dangers of pool entrapment, evisceration and drowning and the need for physical inspections of pool equipment.

●      Work with the pool and spa industry to improve the design of its products, packaging and warning labels, and assist in the development of product safety standards related to such products.

●      Identify and provide support and assistance to organizations and programs that help educate parents, children, and pool and spa manufacturers about the prevention of entrapment and traditional forms of drowning.  

Find out more about Abbey’s Hope at https://www.abbeyshope.org/

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Alison Petri
Program Manager
Abbey’s Hope Foundation
952.303.5421763.331.1899(cell)
alison@abbeyshope.org

Catch up on the NDPA Webinar Series

NDPA Webinar series

The NDPA Webinar Series is an educational initiative that aims to offer expert insight on  a plurality of topics pertaining to water safety and drowning prevention throughout the year. 

Here’s a list of our first 10 webinar sessions that you can watch on our site now!

Our first webinar discussed the American Academy of Pediatrics updated statement on the prevention of drowning, with Dr. Julie Gilchrist and Nicole Hughes, founder of Levi’s Legacy.




Dr. Andrea Taliaferro along with Ailene Tisser, MA PT and Cindy Freedman, MOTR, CTRS, founders of Swim Angelfish, lead the discussion on water safety and drowning prevention for individuals with disabilities and autism.

Waves, temperature, currents, weather… they can all be obstacles to the practice of open water swimming. Guest speakers Swim Angelfish and US Coast Guard Licensed Master Michael Carr.




This webinar covers what has worked well and what hasn’t for community water safety initiatives, how to connect with your community, how to gain support from your community, how to identify resources in your community, and other related topics.

This discussion covers federal water safety legislation with a focus on VGB and the proposed legislation on water safety education in schools in New Jersey with our expert panel which includes Alan Korn, J.D., Sean Kean, J.D., and Joe Oehme.




Led by Mick Nelson, the Facilities Development Senior Director at USA Swimming, this webinar is focused on drowning data and a discussion on the role that commercial aquatic facilities play in drowning prevention.

National Safe Boating Council‘s Executive Director, Peg Phillips, and Communication Director, Yvonne Pentz join us as we discuss life jacket use in the U.S., life jacket laws, and the “Wear It!” campaign.




How can more schools adopt water safety education programs? We answer this and other questions with the expertise of Stop Drowning Now and Colin’s Hope, both organizations that have existing and implemented drowning prevention curriculums in schools.

Physicians prescribing swim lessons to parents and children is a topic of great interest for most families in the U.S. Lana Whitehead, President of Water Smart Babies and Dr. Todd Vedder, MD with Atrium Health discuss it at length.




Our two guest experts in marketing and communication, Laura Metro, Owner of The Marketing Spirit and NDPA Board Member and Kent Nelson, Digital Marketing Specialist at Counsilman Hunsaker, discuss the ins and outs of navigating social media around a complex issue.

Don’t miss any of our upcoming webinars. Dates and topics will be announced on our social media profiles.