Cook Children's Sees Alarming Increase In Child Drownings

FORT WORTH, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) -- Cook Children's says they're seeing an alarming increase in the number of children being treated for drownings.

The team says they've seen more drowning patients between January and March of this year than in the previous five, and they're concerned the trend could continue into the summer.

Typically the volume of drownings really starts up ticking in April and May, when the temperatures begin to increase. But this year the numbers are already up.

This is concerning to Dana Walraven, the Community Health Outreach manager for the Center for Children's Health.

Between January and March of this year, doctors treated 12 drowning patients at cook, including two who died.

During the same time period in both 2021 and 2020, there were only two, and none in 2019.

• Jan-March 2022 -- 12 drownings, 2 deadly
• Jan-March 2021 -- 2 drownings
• Jan-March 2020 -- 2 drownings
• Jan-March 2019 -- 0 drownings

Walraven said most of the accidents are happening when parents don't know their kids are in the water.

"You know, children are crafty, they're very creative, and they love to explore so we don't fault them," she said. "It's their development to find and explore all these fun places and they gravitate toward the water, so we want to try to slow them down."

When asked what precautions people should take around their home to prevents these sort of situations, Walraven suggests assessing the environment.

"We suggest families really look at that environment that the child is in that day because we know it changes," she said. "They might be at a grandparents house, they may be at a neighbor's home or at daycare. So let's assess the environment and make sure that they don't have access when the caregiver is not watching every moment of the day."

According to the CDC, children aged 1-4 have the highest drowning rates. And it doesn't just have to be in a pool, a bathtub can also pose a risk.

"People don't realize how little water it takes to drown whether it's a bath tub or anywhere just enough to cover the nose and the mouth where they can't breathe, and then you have a drowning scenario," Walraven said.

She also suggests the following advice when it comes to preventing child drownings:

• Install door locks high out of children's reach and consider door and window alarms
• Install four-sided fencing around pools that's at least 4-feet high
• Remove all toys and floats so kids aren't attempting to reach for them
• Remove the ladders for above ground pools
• Consider a pool surface alarm to alert if anyone/anything falls into the water

Walraven said one rule prevails around water -- never leave a child alone, not even for a second.