Drowning Isn't Noisy

From what I've read, a common refrain from many people who were in an area when there was a drowning is something like, "I didn't hear a thing." Sadly, when someone drowns, you don't hear anything. Drowning is silent. Drowning isn't like in the movies, where people wave and shout for help, saying things like, "help! I'm drowning."

People who are drowning, if they get their head above water, need that split second to grab another gulp of air - they don't have the time or energy to shout for help. They silently slide under the water.

Drowning stats are horrifying. Drownings happen in the ocean, at the lake, in rivers and creeks, and in backyard swimming pools. If there's water, there is the potential for drowning and it is all so very preventable.

The topic caught my eye earlier than usual this year when I heard a news report last night that there were already 33 reported drownings this year in the province of Quebec. That is about 10 more than normal for this time of year. An expert on the topic was interviewed on TV and he said that the spike was likely due to the early hot weather we have been receiving.

According to the Centers of Disease Control (CDC) in the U.S.,

• From 2005-2009, there were an average of 3,533 fatal unintentional drownings (non-boating related) annually in the United States — about ten deaths per day. An additional 347 people died each year from drowning in boating-related incidents.
• About one in five people who die from drowning are children 14 and younger. For every child who dies from drowning, another five receive emergency department care for nonfatal submersion injuries.
• More than 50% of drowning victims treated in emergency departments (EDs) require hospitalization or transfer for further care (compared with a hospitalization rate of about 6% for all unintentional injuries).  These nonfatal drowning injuries can cause severe brain damage that may result in long-term disabilities such as memory problems, learning disabilities, and permanent loss of basic functioning (e.g., permanent vegetative state).

So, what do we do?


Reducing the risk of drowning:

Playing at the pool or a beach

If you are with a child or someone with weak (or no) swimming ability, the basic rule is "an arm's length away." The non-swimmer should be no more than an arm's length away from you while in the water. You must be able to reach and grab without having to swim out to the distressed person.

Never keep your eyes off your child when he is in the water. Never. Ever. Just turning your head to chat with someone beside you puts your child in danger. If you can't see him, you won't see him going under. He's not going to tell you.

Obey the flags and the lifeguards. If it's not safe to swim, don't. Plain and simple.

Use the buddy system. If you are with a group of people, even if everyone is a swimmer, have a buddy system, where everyone has someone they will be swimming with or keeping an eye on them.

Put life jackets on non-swimming children. If you make it an everyday thing, "you're at the pool, you wear this jacket," they will see it as normal.

Don't rely on flotation devices. Yes, they are devices and they are meant to keep your child afloat and you want your nonswimmers to wear them. But they are merely tools and not a substitution for careful monitoring. Devices can break, come off, or just not work properly and you might not notice if your child's head goes under the water.

Don't allow screaming games in the water, particularly ones that have the players calling for help. If your child is screaming for play, how will you notice if the players are screaming at you for help if your child is drowning, or they're just playing?

Backyard pools

Never, ever, allow a child to swim alone. Ever. Even if she has taken swimming lessons. Someone must be able to see her while she is in the pool. Accidents happen too quickly.

If you are visiting a home with a pool and you have young children, designate an adult to always (always!) have an eye on the child or children. Of course, if it's a party or fun gathering, no one wants to have to do this all the time, so tag-team it. Have another adult resume responsibility but this must be said and acknowledged. If you are watching the children until 6:15, the person taking over must come to you and say, "OK, I am now watching the kids." Never assume that the next one up is doing it until they acknowledge they are doing it.

Secure the pool around all four sides and make off-time access very difficult. Not all residential areas have legal requirements for pool enclosures, making them an easy target for curious children or kids who want to have some fun without adult supervision. Whether your area requires four-side fencing or not, doesn't it make sense to do so? If you can't afford to have the fencing, can you really afford that pool?

Locks on the gates should be self-latching, so people don't have to remember to lock the gate. If you have an above ground pool, removing the ladder is also helpful. Many of these pools have big filters right beside them - perfect spots for climbing. Design your pool area so this can't happen. At the same time, don't leave lawn chairs and tables near the pool where they can be dragged over and used to get in.

Learn CPR. CPR is not difficult and it literally saves lives. Everyone should know CPR, but if you have a pool, it is even more important.

Any drowning is one too many. 

Stressed New Mom? Try Blogging

We all know that new moms have tons and tons of free time, right? (hey folks, my tongue is firmly in cheek!) Okay, new moms may feel stressed and overwhelmed, particularly as our society has become more fragmented, with families and friends often miles away, if not in another country altogether. The sense of community that used to help so many new moms over the generations may not be there anymore, but there is a new type of community that may be able to take its place. It's found on the Internet and it is, believe it or not, blogging.

Email and Skyping with friends and family is a great way to stay in touch, but blogging - the modern form of journaling - can be an effective way to get out thoughts and feelings, and promote discussion among others, contributing to that sense of community.

This topic was interesting enough to catch the eye of researchers from Brigham Young University who surveyed 157 new mothers about their media use and their well-being. After assessing the survey responses, the researchers found that there was a significant correlation between a strong connection to family and friends, and increased feelings of social support. When this happened, there was higher marital satisfaction and less parenting stress reported. Interestingly, using social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc) was neither helpful or not helpful.

The moms were asked to rate their feelings on scales that corresponded to the various items, which included how much time was spent on different activities, such as sleeping, childcare, housework, and computer usage. The totalled amounts showed that women spent the most of time on childcare (9 hours per day) and sleep (7 hours per day) and the third most time-consuming activity? That was using the Internet, which weighed in at about 3 hours per day.

According to a press release describing the study findings, "The researchers found that 61 percent of the mothers surveyed wrote their own blogs and 76 percent read blogs. Eight-nine percent of the mothers who wrote their own blogs did so to 'document personal experiences or share them with others,' and 86 percent wanted to stay in touch with family and friends through the blog."

What do you think? If you're a new mom, do you blog or participate in other blogs? If you're an older mom, do you wish you had this type of outlet when your children were younger?

Alcohol Consumption and Pregnancy - A Divisive Topic

Does a pregnant woman who drinks a glass of wine put her unborn child at risk? If it's ok to drink a glass of wine, is two ok? Three? A beer? A cooler? Is any alcohol acceptable during pregnancy?

If you ask this question, it's very likely you will get very strong opinions on either side and not much leeway in between. But is alcohol really so bad? Or is it something that you might as well avoid, since it's only for the duration of pregnancy (and nursing, if breastfeeding follows).

A Danish study, published yesterday in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, looked at the effects of alcohol consumed during pregnancy on children were now five years old; 1,628 women participated in the study. They were on average 40 years old at the time. Half were first-time mothers.

The researchers looked at the children's IQ, attention span, and ability to perform functions, such as planning, organizing, and maintaining self-control. Binge drinking is not considered to be regular alcohol consumption but, rather, having five or more drinks in one occasion.

How big is a drink?

Whenever a study like this is performed, the definition of a drink must be determined. In this case, the researchers used the Danish National Board of Health guidelines that state one standard drink equals 12 grams of pure alcohol. In the United States, a standard drink is 14 grams, or 6 ounces, while the United Kingdom measures their alcohol in another way, by units. Each unit contains 7.9 grams of pure alcohol.

morguefile.com

The researchers defined low average alcohol consumption as one to four drinks per week. Moderate was five to eight drinks per week and high consumption was nine or more drinks per week. 

The study findings

The researchers found that among children whose mother drank up to eight drinks per week, there wasn't a significant difference between them and those children whose mothers had consumed no alcohol while pregnant. However, for children whose mothers drank nine or more drinks per week, there were signs of lower attention skills, and other issues.

Recommendations

This study wasn't meant to be a rousing endorsement of drinking alcohol while pregnant, rather one that worked at finding if problems did result if mothers did drink while pregnant. The authors concluded that "it remains the most conservative advice for women to abstain from alcohol during pregnancy, however, small amounts may not present serious concern." 

So now what?

Some people will argue that it is not worth the risk - there is no need to drink alcohol while pregnant and to do so would be foolhardy to take any chances. Of course, drinking alcohol isn't a "must" in life. But studies like this one do suggest that a woman who is attending an event and wants to have a glass of wine or some other alcoholic drink, should not be made to feel guilty if she chooses to do so.

Women can be very, very harsh on other women who make decisions that they don't agree with. While the decision not to drink alcohol at all during pregnancy may right for one woman and her family, other women may feel differently - and as there is the right to choose not to take a drink, there is also the right to have one, if that is what mom-to-be wants.

What do you think?

Tomorrow, June 14, Is World Blood Donor Day

Have you ever given blood if you are medically able to do so? Do you know anyone who has ever needed blood? I'm afraid I have to admit that I'm always surprised when I hear "no" to the first question and "yes" to the second - from the same person. Since tomorrow is World Blood Donor Day, I thought this would be a good time to discuss this topic.

According to the World Health Organization, globally, the majority of donors are male, with only 30% of blood donations given by women. In many parts of the world, this drops to less than 10%.


Broken down by age, donors fall into the following age categories:

Under 18 years: 5%
18 to 24 years: 31%
24 to 44 years: 35%
45 to 64 years: 25%
65 years and older: 3%


What can one unit of donated blood do? It can save lives. But it's not just the actual blood that does the magic, it's the components from the blood. Blood is broken down and different people receive different components, according to what they need: red blood cells, plasma, platelets.

America's Blood Centers has a list of 56 facts about blood - it's an interesting read. It starts with:

1. 4.5 million Americans will a need blood transfusion each year.
2. 43,000 pints: amount of donated blood used each day in the U.S. and Canada.
3. Someone needs blood every two seconds.

There are many reasons why someone can't give blood. I used to give blood as often as I could, but now that I am so fatigued on a good day, I'm not allowed to donate.  As someone with O negative blood (the universal donor), I thought it was particularly important for me to donate and I'm frustrated at this change in events. To give blood, you have to be healthy yourself, not only free of illnesses that you could potentially pass on to a blood recipient, but free of illnesses that would make it harder on you after you've given blood.

Although I used to give regularly, there were times I was turned away because my blood pressure was too low (my average BP used to be around 100/55; anything lower than that is not accepted by most blood donor services) or my pulse was too high - over 100. This was for my own safety. They don't want people passing out and getting injured after donating blood. Completely understandable, I think.

Unfortunately though, there are people who don't give blood for reasons that don't make sense to me:

They don't have time. Many services have service outside of "normal" business hours. Yes, sometimes it does take a while to get through the procedure, but that's what books, MP3 players, and friends are for. ;-)

They don't like needles. No-one likes needles. I've never heard anyone say "hey! I'm going to get a needle stuck in me today!" I used to feel faint at the sight of a needle and, yes, the first few times, I was a bit queasy. But it goes away.

One time, several years into my habit of giving blood, I had a bad experience. I got very faint very quickly and felt horrid while donating - they had to stop the procedure. I remember being very frustrated because that hadn't happened in a long time and I happened to bring my oldest son with me that time (he was about 10 or 11, I believe) so he could see what it was all about.

I have to admit, that experience did make me nervous the next time I went, but it never repeated. I just made sure to tell the nurse that we could not speed up my donation time (by squeezing a ball), because that made my blood pressure drop quickly.

In 2007, I wrote about a decrease in blood donations (Have you donated blood recently?) and how blood is processed and used. It's an ongoing topic that bears revisiting on a much more regular basis.

Of course, blood donation is a personal choice and one that needs to be made freely and without pressure. Think about it though. If you need blood to save your life or someone you cared about does - what would happen if everyone felt the same way about not donating?