Shallow Water Blackout Prevention has partnered with the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps and the Michael Phelps Foundation to release a PSA
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Clarion Safety Systems, a leading designer and manufacturer of safety signs and safety labels, is renewing its partnership with Shallow Water Blackout Prevention (SWBP), aiding the organization’s efforts to save lives through drowning prevention efforts. “With SWBP, we’ve found a like-minded organization who shares Clarion’s passion for keeping people safe from harm. We’re proud to be collaborating for increased water safety,” says Derek Eversdyke, Director of Facility Safety Products at Clarion. “We both understand that education and safety signage work hand in hand to save lives.”
Clarion Safety Systems will donate $5.00 to SWBP for every SWBP sign sold. To view/purchase signs, click here.
About Clarion’s Pool Safety Sign System: Clarion pool safety sign systems are available for purchase directly from Clarion’s online pool safety catalog, as well as from leading commercial pool suppliers, including Recreonics, Lincoln Equipment, and Water Safety Products. Signs are offered in English, Spanish, and bilingual English/Spanish. They are customizable in over 30 different languages and in various sizes and finishes to meet location and climate-based considerations. Additional information on pool safety and the importance of effective pool safety signage is available on the Clarion website.
About Clarion Safety Systems: Clarion Safety Systems is the leading designer and manufacturer of visual safety solutions that help customers in more than 180 industries worldwide to make their products and premises safer. Clarion offers a full range of standard and custom products including machinery safety labels, environmental and facility safety signs, pipe and valve identification markings, lockout/tagout products, and safety grade photoluminescent egress path-marking escape systems. Founded in 1990, Clarion is headquartered at 190 Old Milford Road in Milford, PA, 18337, and online at www.clarionsafety.com.
We are pleased to announce that Georgia Governor Nathan Deal has signed a proclamation stating that May 31st is Shallow Water Blackout Prevention Awareness Day.
We would like to thank Governor Deal and his staff for their faithful service to the great state of Georgia, and for their concern about the safety and well being of its citizens.
Official Proclamation
We wish to encourage all of our friends and followers to take a moment today and share information about the dangers of SWB with your friends and loved ones. The only way to save lives from more senseless tragedies due to SWB is through education and prevention.
We have been invited by the United States Coast Guard Air Station Miami to be an exhibitor during this very patriotic event and will be a prominent part of their Water Safety Exhibition We will be located to the right of Block 14 (14th Street) on Miami Beach and within the Coast Guard’s display section, which is in the Display Village. If you live in or near Miami please visit our booth.
The National Salute to America’s Heroes is FREE and OPEN to the public. The best viewing for the Air & Sea Show is on Miami Beach between 11th and 14th streets, at show center with a small preferred seating area. Visit the Display Village, which spans more than 6 football fields, and includes interactive displays from all branches of the military, as well as corporate sponsors, food and beverage tents plus memorabilia and merchandise.
The National Salute to America’s Heroes presented by Hyundai is a 365-day initiative that launches Memorial Day weekend designed to pay tribute, honor and encourage military and first responder heroes. The National Salute to America’s Heroes presented by Hyundai is anchored by the Air & Sea Show, both of which combine to make a one-of-a-kind fan experience unparalleled anywhere in the country. The inaugural event is Memorial Day weekend 2017, which marks the beginning of an annually produced exhibition of gratitude all set upon the shores of Miami Beach, Florida. The Air & Sea Show is a patriotically-infused world-class showcase of military technology and power, military and first responder demonstrations in the air, on the sea and on the land. The Music Explosion presented by Hyundai stage hosts performances by top music entertainers. The National Salute to America’s Heroes presented by Hyundai website offers the most updated calendar of events, latest news and information on the military participants, press information, maps of the event, social media links and information on the military and first responder demonstrations.
For more information visit: http://usasalute.com
Editor's Note: This week we received an email from a mother whose 13-year-old son experienced a shallow water blackout while their family was vacationing in Orlando, Florida. This story shows how SWB can happen to an adolescent even while under responsible adult supervision. We applaud young Clayton for his alertness and rescue of his best friend, Reagan. Thank you, Teresa, for sharing your story and helping to raise awareness of the dangers of shallow water blackout. Lives will be saved!
Clayton (Left) and Reagan (Right)
"We went to Orlando with our 13 year old son Reagan and brought along a family friend, Clayton, who is the same age in March of this year. These boys have been close friends since first grade and get along fabulously. I don’t think they’ve ever fought. We rented a house with a pool and hit the parks for a few days. The last day we spent at the house relaxing.
When we first got to the house and the boys jumped in the pool, we told them 'Hey, no crazy jumping. No ER trips this weekend.' Saturday they were swimming pretty much the majority of the day either in the pool or the hot tub. With or without goggles.
Around 7:30 pm, the boys were in the pool and thankfully my husband Ron and I were also on the patio. At 13 years old and healthy kids, used to being in swimming pools their entire life, it wouldn’t be unknown for us to walk away briefly. Take the dogs for a walk, fix food in the kitchen etc. We were watching our tablets for a delayed rocket launch at Cape Canaveral while the boys swam.
Reagan was taking his turn swimming underwater seeing how far he could go. He hadn’t gone nearly as far as he normally does when Clayton noticed his body language change. Instead of thinking it was a joke, Clayton swam to Reagan and pulled off his face mask goggles. He could tell Reagan was dead weight and making an odd sound. He started swimming holding Reagan’s head above water towards the edge. When Clayton came up for air he yelled for us and caught our attention. By then he had Reagan at the edge of the pool and we pulled him out. Reagan was still unconscious. I don’t know how many seconds passed, felt like at least 30, before he came to. He didn’t cough up any water. He was just confused what was going on. Last thing he remembered was swimming underwater and knowing he needed to go up for air. He had fainted before he could come up for air.
He was completely fine and responding to everything normally. After consulting a relative who works in the ER, we determined we didn’t need to take him in. But were still very concerned wondering why this happened. Needless to say, I slept right next to him that night!
We let his older sisters know what happened. They were also shaken up by the close call. Our oldest daughter started looking up what could have caused Reagan to faint. She found information about your organization. After reading the information, it was very obvious that Reagan’s situation fit the Shallow Water Blackout description exactly.
We were SO FORTUNATE. Clayton was a hero that day for how quickly he reacted. We had a lot of discussions that night and the next day about the importance of Never play-drowning. Swimming with a buddy. Keeping an eye on your friends. CPR techniques and many other things.
I thank God every day that we have our boy and things did not turn out tragically as easy as they could have. I feel compelled to somehow warn other families. Thank you so much for your organization and efforts to raise awareness. Living in SW Florida (Cape Coral, FL), we have a lot of interaction with pools and water. Hopefully we can help raise awareness also."
Shallow Water Blackout Prevention is pleased to announce the kick-off of its new Ambassador Program. This Program is designed for volunteers who have a desire to help raise awareness about Shallow Water Blackout and our organization around the country. We provide the materials for them to distribute within their community and serve as a resource to answer any questions raised by those with whom they connect. If you would like to learn more about becoming an Ambassador, please contact us at: admin@shallowwaterblackoutprevention.org
Benjy lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and will turn sixteen in September. During a meeting with Benjy and his parents and grandparents, who were deeply involved in attempting to revive our Executive Director’s son after a Shallow Water Blackout, he asked if he could become involved with our cause. This became the impetus for creating the Ambassador Program. As part of his Community Service requirement for High School graduation Benjy will be distributing our informational / educational materials to local SCUBA and Dive Shops and other water-related entities within his community. He will also be making his contacts aware of our organization. Raising awareness about SWB will be his mission. Fort Lauderdale, located in Broward county ranks number one in the US for unintentional drownings where SWB is often associated.
Benjy enjoys fishing with his father, spending the summers with his grandparents in the Bahamas and boating; he received his Boaters License when he was fourteen. He loves music, plays the drums and according to his mother he just cannot get enough of being outside. We look forward to working with Benjy.
To improve pool and spa safety, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) launched Pool Safely: Simple Steps to Save Lives, a national public education campaign to reduce childhood drownings, submersion injuries and entrapments.
The campaign is a call-to-action for consumers and industry to adopt proven water safety steps and join a national conversation about pool and spa safety by sharing best practices and other life-saving information.
Pool Safely has more than 1,000 partners nationwide that help share their water safety message. This diverse group provides information and resources to expand the reach of the campaign. Our organization is the first to focus on raising awareness about and the prevention of Shallow Water Blackout.
For more information about Pool Safely visit: www.poolsafely.gov
Shallow Water Blackout Prevention is proud to be a participant in this year’s NDPA Educational Conference. Please stop by our booth to learn more about our organization and what we are doing do eliminate the potential and tragic results of Shallow Water Blackout. We will have information about what causes it and how it can be prevented along with educational materials and sample signage for pools that we make available to raise awareness and increase its prevention.
In addition to our being an Exhibitor the Vice Chairman of our Board, Dr. Tom Griffiths, President and Founder of the Aquatic Safety Research Group, and his daughter, Rachel, will be conducting a Breakout Session on Wednesday, April 12 from 9:35 AM to 10:20 AM. The title of their session is: Heroes on Deck. This presentation will help parents and aquatic professionals develop themselves and young lifeguards into heroes through more immediate action in situations when others need help. Participants will learn to demonstrate heroism in everyday life.
We look forward to seeing you during this very important and informative Conference.
On March 22, 2017, The Inertia published an article detailing new research that indicates hyperventilation is NOT necessary for SWB to occur. You can read this informative article here.
The aquatics experts here at Shallow Water Blackout Prevention are very pleased to learn this (much needed) research is taking place. Dr. Rhonda Milner, Founder and Chairman of SWBP, commented on the article, saying this:
Thank you, Phil for a great and enlightening article. Thank you Dr. Merritt for your research at VitalityPro. This explains why we at Shallow Water Blackout Prevention have said all along, blackouts do and can occur without hyperventilation.
This means that O2 depletion is as important as abnormally lowering CO2 levels with hyperventilation leading to SWB. That is why multiple, repetitive breath-holding laps are so dangerous. O2 levels can get so depleted, when not allowed a chance to be fully restored, that a person blacks out before they have CO2 levels high enough to signal them to breathe.
We have also found that a determined person can ignore his urge to breathe finding the urge to breathe temporarily subsiding. I would love to see research on the explanation and physiology of the observation. I suspect endorphins are released giving a feeling of euphoria. This all supports why multiple, repetitive, competitive breath-holding laps with hyperventilation are a lethal combination. Hence, the two Navy SEALs that died a few years ago in the base pool in Norfolk, VA while competing against each other doing breath-holding laps.
It looks like the pulmonary training program at VitalityPro is aerobically based which we have supported as how to best build and strengthen lung capacity with wind sprints, and so on. Hypoxic training underwater anaerobically is dangerous and can lead to blackout without warning. And, it certainly should never be performed without close supervision. As stated earlier, this research is so important because it proves that SWB is not only caused from hyperventilation, but from O2 depletion and inadequate restoration of O2 levels. It also gives further explanation for the cause of surface blackouts when free diving, besides redistribution of blood flow secondary to pulmonary pressure gradient changes.
I am so glad VitalityPro is doing this needed research on the physiology and causes of SWB. This is what we have so needed. Kudos to all involved at VitalityPro. Thank you, Dr. Frank Merritt for your research and as founder of VitalityPro, Brandon Rager as director of VitalityPro, and Phil White at theinertia.com for this article. We would love to add this article to our website and stay in touch with VitalityPro and their active research. Also, great chart illustration!
Thank you!
Rhonda Milner, MD
Founder and Chairman, Shallow Water Blackout Prevention
On March 3, 2017, Shallow Water Blackout Prevention made a presentation and conducted a Breakout Session at the First Annual Water Safety Symposium, which was held at the Sunrise Civic Center in Sunrise, Florida. The Florida Department of Health in Broward County, Children’s Services Council, YMCA of South Florida, Swim Central, Water Smart Palm Beach, YMCA of Palm Beach County and Miami Dade Drowning Coalition collaborated with this event to bridge the gap between 3 counties and help educate the attendees of the crippling affects drowning has on their entire community. Broward County and Miami-Dade County rank number 1 and number 2 respectively for drownings in the U.S.
The event was designed for aquatics professionals, health-care professionals, first responders and the public at-large. Main Speakers and Breakout Session Presenters included: Edna Tello, M.D. FAAP, Robert J. Bertone, Public Education Officer, Coral Springs Fire Department, Jay Sanford, Manager, Broward County SWIM Central Program, Captain Todd Lutes, Commanding Officer of the Coast Guard Air Station Miami, Estela Rabin, M.D., FAAP, James Walker, Broward County Sheriff’s Office, Child Protective Investigations Section, James S. O’Connor, Aquatic Safety Coordinator, Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department, Veronica Castro, MSW, LCSW, Clinical Support Specialist at Atlantic University, and Dean E. Haller, Executive Director, Shallow Water Blackout Prevention.
Over three hundred and fifty people from southern Florida attended the event and raising awareness and educating everyone about Shallow Water Blackout, its causes and prevention was front and center during the entire Symposium.
