Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / #910 Water Safety With Dr Anthea Rhodes

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#910 Water Safety With Dr Anthea Rhodes · Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families podcast. It's the podcast for.
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  Speaker 2: The time poor parent who just wants answers Now.
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  Speaker 1: So a child can drown in less than twenty seconds.
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  Speaker 1: It's faster than most people think, and as we say,
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  Speaker 1: it's often silent, and those things are what make it
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  Speaker 1: such a deadly and risky situation for children. And now
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  Speaker 1: here's the stars of our show, my mum and dad.
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  Speaker 2: Hello, this is doctor Justin Coulson. As we move so
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  Speaker 2: quickly now towards the summer holidays, Christmas is just around
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  Speaker 2: the corner, and this is the time where the weather
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  Speaker 2: warms up and we start to get into swimming pools. Now,
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to share a story as we kick off
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  Speaker 2: today's podcast that is a little bit hard to hear,
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  Speaker 2: and I just want to, I guess, highlight that I'm
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  Speaker 2: not sharing this to be sensationalistic, but to highlight the
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  Speaker 2: importance of our conversation today. My guest on the podcast
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  Speaker 2: is doctor Anthea Rhodes. Anthea joins me fairly regularly to
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  Speaker 2: talk about the RCH National Child Health Pole. Doctor Rhodes
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  Speaker 2: is the director of that pole, and there's been a
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  Speaker 2: new pole just conducted with results currently being published. Looking
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  Speaker 2: at kids and water safety, their capacity to be safe
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  Speaker 2: around water, to be swimming, engaging in swimming lessons. And
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  Speaker 2: we're heading to the beach that we've got swimming pools,
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  Speaker 2: we've got lakes, rivers, whatever it might be. And this
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  Speaker 2: is the season where we really need to have this conversation.
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  Speaker 2: This conversation is really important to me because my family
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  Speaker 2: has come so breathtakingly close to experiencing drowning. Where fortunate
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  Speaker 2: that it hasn't occurred. But at a family barbecue a
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  Speaker 2: few years ago, probably fifteen years ago. Now it goes
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  Speaker 2: really fast to the elder you get, But at a
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  Speaker 2: family barbecue around about fifteen years ago, everybody was hanging
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  Speaker 2: out of the pool area having a great conversation. The
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  Speaker 2: pool area was full of adults who were all having
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  Speaker 2: sausages and steak and salad and standing and sitting and
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  Speaker 2: just being present. There were kids swimming in the pool.
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  Speaker 2: My young cousin, James, who I think at the time
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  Speaker 2: was about two, was sitting on the edge of the
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  Speaker 2: pool and he slipped into the pool. The thing with
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  Speaker 2: drowning is that it's silent, and James just slipped into
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  Speaker 2: the pool and nobody noticed. He sunk to the bottom
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  Speaker 2: of the pool and had been on the bottom of
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  Speaker 2: the pool for an extended period of time before somebody
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  Speaker 2: saw him. We dived into the pool, pulled him out,
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  Speaker 2: and he was changing color. He was definitely in the
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  Speaker 2: process of drowning. Fortunately we were able to see him
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  Speaker 2: start breathing again fairly quickly. He vomited up a whole
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  Speaker 2: lot of water and he was okay. But another five,
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  Speaker 2: ten twenty seconds and the outcome could have been tragic
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  Speaker 2: and we would have been attending a funeral rather than
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  Speaker 2: celebrating Christmas. So Anthea, thank you so much for joining
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  Speaker 2: me for this conversation. That story is one of those
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  Speaker 2: awful stories to start off a conversation like this, but
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  Speaker 2: I share it because it matters so much. When you
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  Speaker 2: did the RCH National Child Health Poll, were you asking
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  Speaker 2: and what did you find when it comes to kids
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  Speaker 2: and water safety?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks so much for having me on to talk
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  Speaker 1: about this really important topic justin and as you say,
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  Speaker 1: with summer and holidays around the corner, the risk period
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  Speaker 1: really goes up.
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  Speaker 3: Now.
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  Speaker 1: Your story, unfortunately, is not a rare one, and most
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  Speaker 1: people listening will probably know of someone in their extended
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  Speaker 1: family or perhaps someone very close to them who has
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  Speaker 1: maybe had a near drowning episode. And of course in
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  Speaker 1: some situations it's not a near drowning, it can in
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  Speaker 1: fact have devastating outcomes. So we ask parents what they
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  Speaker 1: know about drowning and the risks of drowning, and one
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  Speaker 1: of the biggest findings is exactly as you say, it's
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  Speaker 1: that myth that perhaps children struggle or splash or make
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  Speaker 1: a lot of noise or do something obvious if they're
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  Speaker 1: struggling in the water and starting to drown. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: in most instances it's quiet can in fact be silent
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  Speaker 1: and often goes unnoticed. So forty four percent of Australian
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  Speaker 1: parents didn't know that. They didn't know that drowning is
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  Speaker 1: often silent, and so they expect that if they've got
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  Speaker 1: half an hour on what's going on, they'll notice, there'll
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  Speaker 1: be a commotion, something will happen, the alarm will be raised,
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  Speaker 1: and everyone will be aware. But in fact, in studies
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  Speaker 1: where they've looked at footage that's been captured incidentally, like
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  Speaker 1: CCTV type footage where near drownings or drownings have happened,
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  Speaker 1: often there's people standing right alongside the incident, there's adults there,
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  Speaker 1: but it quietly happens just outside of someone's gaze. And
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  Speaker 1: once that child has started to struggle underwater takes that
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  Speaker 1: first breath of water rather than air, then they really
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  Speaker 1: rapidly become weak, lose consciousness, and are not able to
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  Speaker 1: reach up for the top. So knowing that drowning happens quickly,
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  Speaker 1: it can happen in very shallow water, and it's often silent,
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  Speaker 1: is really really important for parents to be aware of.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm stounded when you share those statistics because I mean,
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  Speaker 2: you're saying forty four percent of parents we're aware of that.
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  Speaker 2: Is there anything else surprising in terms of parental knowledge
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  Speaker 2: parental awareness when it comes to this particular topic.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so around half of parents we're also not aware
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  Speaker 1: how quickly a child can drown. So a child can
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  Speaker 1: drown in less than twenty seconds.
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  Speaker 3: Wow, that's really not a long.
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  Speaker 1: Period of time if we think about and this is
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  Speaker 1: a classic situation in near drowning type episodes. Nowadays, we
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  Speaker 1: might be on our phone as a parent, you might
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  Speaker 1: stop to read one text message or have a look at,
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  Speaker 1: you know, one image that's popped up on the screen.
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  Speaker 1: In that short period of time, you know, twenty seconds
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  Speaker 1: or less, that can be enough for a child to
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  Speaker 1: actually enter that drowning episode. So it's fast, faster than
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  Speaker 1: most people think. And as we say, it's often silent,
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  Speaker 1: and those things are what make it such a deadly
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  Speaker 1: and risky situation for children.
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  Speaker 2: Anth Two things come to mind when you share that.
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  Speaker 2: The first is a news story that I remember from
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  Speaker 2: a few years ago now where a mum ended up
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  Speaker 2: tragically in court because she had been literally just scrolling
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  Speaker 2: Instagram and her little one had been in the bath.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, this isn't even a summertime thing, right, this
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  Speaker 2: is just bathtime, scrolling Instagram. Little one's in the bath,
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  Speaker 2: she's there, didn't notice that her little toddler had stuck
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  Speaker 2: its head under the water and actually inhaled the water
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  Speaker 2: and drowned right there. The other one, the other story.
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  Speaker 2: I'm at pains to share it, but I think again
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  Speaker 2: emphasizing the purpose of this conversation is to emphasize just
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  Speaker 2: how important it is that we keep closely on our kids.
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  Speaker 2: A good friend of mine is a paramedic down in
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  Speaker 2: New South Wales, and he was called to a job
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  Speaker 2: where a grandfather had been looking after two little twin
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  Speaker 2: boys toddlers around three years of age. The pool gate
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  Speaker 2: was closed, but it wasn't locked. Somehow the lock hadn't
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  Speaker 2: snapped into place, so he knew that the pool gate
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  Speaker 2: was closed. Therefore, he wasn't supervising the kids particularly closely.
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  Speaker 2: They were in the rumpest room. He was in the kitchen.
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  Speaker 2: He thought, Hey, the kids are pretty quiet. I should
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  Speaker 2: go and check on them. All of a sudden, they
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  Speaker 2: weren't in the rumpest room. He saw the sliding door
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  Speaker 2: was open, walked out, saw the poolgate was open. Couldn't
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  Speaker 2: work out what had happened both of the boys one
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  Speaker 2: had gone and the other one had followed him, and
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  Speaker 2: one had drowned on the spot. The other one passed
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  Speaker 2: away in hospital a short while later. My friend was
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  Speaker 2: the paramedic that was called to the job, and he
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  Speaker 2: described the emotional devastation of this grandfather as he was
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  Speaker 2: coming to grips with the reality of what had occurred.
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  Speaker 2: He said, he's never seen pain like it when it
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  Speaker 2: comes to parents and their involvement with helping kids to
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  Speaker 2: be safe and supervising them. Can you tell me some
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  Speaker 2: more about what your rh POL found to help kids
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  Speaker 2: to be safe.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so just devastating hearing that story justin and sadly
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  Speaker 1: we see cases just like that here in the hospital
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  Speaker 1: every year.
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  Speaker 3: And one of the.
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  Speaker 1: Really important things that is part of that story time
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  Speaker 1: and time again is you know, these are not negligent
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  Speaker 1: parents who are choosing.
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  Speaker 3: Or don't realize that it matters.
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  Speaker 1: They understand that it's important to supervise they kids, and
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  Speaker 1: they understand that their kids probably can't swim. But what
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  Speaker 1: people often don't realize is just how quickly these things
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  Speaker 1: can happen. So common myths that parents, you know, some
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  Speaker 1: parents believe are okay, where things like if you've got
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  Speaker 1: older children in the pool, it's okay to leave your
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  Speaker 1: younger child, you know, to step away to do something
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  Speaker 1: just for a moment. Similarly, in the bath you've mentioned,
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  Speaker 1: really really important children can drown in just a few
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  Speaker 1: centimeters of water in a bath. It's not okay to
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  Speaker 1: leave a toddler with an older child without an adult
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  Speaker 1: you know, there to supervise. So those sorts of moments
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  Speaker 1: where often it's quick people think oh, I'm just going
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  Speaker 1: to step away for a minute, it can be enough
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  Speaker 1: to have devastating consequences.
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  Speaker 3: So this study.
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  Speaker 1: Really reminds us how much we need to all talk
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  Speaker 1: about this and be aware of this.
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  Speaker 3: We also found interestingly that dads went.
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  Speaker 1: Quite as sharp on their water safety knowledge as mums
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  Speaker 1: when we did the survey, so dads were more likely
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  Speaker 1: to tell us that it might be all right to
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  Speaker 1: you know, leave an older kid to look after your
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  Speaker 1: younger kid in the pool or in the path for example.
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  Speaker 1: Another really important one is about being at the beach
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  Speaker 1: when kids are swimming between patrolled flags. So we're super
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  Speaker 1: lucky here in Australia. We've got incredible surf life saving
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  Speaker 1: you know, skills and services, but they again don't replace.
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  Speaker 3: Supervision for you of your own child.
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  Speaker 1: So we found that around a quarter of Australian parents
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  Speaker 1: thought if they're at the beach and their kids are
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  Speaker 1: swimming between the flags, then they don't necessarily need to
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  Speaker 1: supervise them. Now, we know, if you picture a busy
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  Speaker 1: beach and you know you live in Queensland, I live
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  Speaker 1: in Victoria, so our beach is you know, maybe not
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  Speaker 1: quite as fabulous. But on a summer's day between the
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  Speaker 1: flags there are hundreds, you know, if not thousands sometimes
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  Speaker 1: of kids and just a handful of surf life savers
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  Speaker 1: there to supervise, so they cannot you know, they do
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  Speaker 1: a fabulous job, but they do not replace your individual
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  Speaker 1: supervision of.
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  Speaker 3: Your young child. So another really.
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  Speaker 1: Important message there for parents as we head into the
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  Speaker 1: holiday season to be.
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  Speaker 3: Aware of that.
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  Speaker 2: When you consider the findings of this poll, what advice,
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  Speaker 2: what are the stats? What other things do we need
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  Speaker 2: to be aware of? And I know that there's probably
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  Speaker 2: a handful of other things that we can pull out
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  Speaker 2: of it that will be really useful over the next
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  Speaker 2: sort of four six eight weeks as parents spend more
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  Speaker 2: time near the water with their kids.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, So the other big one that we asked about
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  Speaker 1: in this study was swimming lessons. So obviously we're all
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  Speaker 1: emerging from a couple of years as a COVID pandemic
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  Speaker 1: and there's.
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  Speaker 3: Been pools closed.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps families haven't been on holidays, they haven't had a
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  Speaker 1: chance to get in the pool with their kids for
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  Speaker 1: a couple of weeks, and you know, really build those
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  Speaker 1: water safety in swimming skills. Around half of Australian kids
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  Speaker 1: have had lost opportunities to build their swimming skills due
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  Speaker 1: to COVID, So that's either missed lessons or you know,
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  Speaker 1: missed a chance to get in the pool and practice
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  Speaker 1: their swimming. So as we head into the summer, if
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  Speaker 1: that's you and your kids, they're a bit more vulnerable,
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  Speaker 1: you know, than they would have been if they'd kept
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  Speaker 1: up those regular swimming lessons and been a bit more
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  Speaker 1: aware of water safety. Of course, swimming lessons does not
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  Speaker 1: replace supervision, and that was again a really important myth
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  Speaker 1: that we found in this study. Some parents felt if
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  Speaker 1: their children have had swimming lessons, then they probably don't
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  Speaker 1: need supervision. They're safe in the water. And we're talking
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  Speaker 1: about young kids here, kids under ten. Even if they've
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  Speaker 1: had lessons, you still need to be supervising them because
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  Speaker 1: you know, you don't necessarily know their ability is enough
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  Speaker 1: to save themselves if a situation is outside of their
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  Speaker 1: ability or control. But those swimming lessons are a really
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  Speaker 1: important thing to get back into. Parents are not going
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  Speaker 1: to have a chance to do that before the end
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  Speaker 1: of the year. I don't know about you, justment we're
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  Speaker 1: all limping to the line here, and they're certainly looking
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  Speaker 1: forward to lots of things wrapping up, including all those
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  Speaker 1: extracurricular activities for the holidays.
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  Speaker 3: But definitely a message for families as well next year
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  Speaker 3: re enroll in swimming lessons.
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  Speaker 1: Half of families who had dropped out of these because
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  Speaker 1: of COVID have not got back into those really important
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  Speaker 1: lessons to build those safety skills for their kids. And
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  Speaker 1: most people told us it's because they were too busy
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  Speaker 1: or they hadn't got around to it. They know it's important,
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  Speaker 1: but it's one of those things that you've got to.
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  Speaker 3: Factor it in.
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  Speaker 2: I'd imagine that the costs would also be a little
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  Speaker 2: bit of a challenge for a lot of families, especially
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  Speaker 2: as we're watching the current economic situation unfold. Anthea, this
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  Speaker 2: is such an important conversation obviously, with the stories that
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  Speaker 2: I've shared and the statistics that you've brought to the four,
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  Speaker 2: I just so much appreciate you taking some time to
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  Speaker 2: share these ideas on the Happy Families podcast. Are there
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  Speaker 2: any final thoughts, any last words before we wrap this up?
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  Speaker 1: Look, the one parting message really for parents is keep
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  Speaker 1: your eyes on your kids over the summer anywhere around water,
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  Speaker 1: especially if you're in a new environment. If you're in
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  Speaker 1: a mate's place for a barbecue and they've got a pool,
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  Speaker 1: you're down at the beach, gathering with it, extended family,
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  Speaker 1: you've gone on holidays, you're somewhere new or different.
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  Speaker 3: Those places especially are.
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  Speaker 1: Where we relax finally, but we might drop our guard
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  Speaker 1: as well, and we're not aware of the risks. Our
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  Speaker 1: kids certainly are not aware of the risks, and drowning
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  Speaker 1: can happen quickly, silently, and it's absolutely devastating. So be aware,
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  Speaker 1: you know, not about dramatizing things and taking away all
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  Speaker 1: the fun, but recognizing this is a real risk for kids,
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  Speaker 1: particularly those young kids, kids under ten, and then even
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  Speaker 1: more so kids under five, preschoolers, you know, toddlers, they're
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  Speaker 1: the biggest.
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  Speaker 3: Risk age group. We stay arms reach all the times
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  Speaker 3: around water.
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  Speaker 2: Well supervised, supervised, supervised. Doctor Antheo Rhodes, the director of
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  Speaker 2: the RCH National Child Health Phole, really appreciate you and
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  Speaker 2: spending some time with us again on the podcast. Have
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  Speaker 2: a wonderful Christmas, Stay safe and I hope we get
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  Speaker 2: to talk to you again next year.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely you two. Thanks Justin.
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  Speaker 2: It's doctor Antheo Rhodes, the director of the RCCH National
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: Old Health Whole, on the Happy Families podcast, which is
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: produced by Justin Rowland from Bridge Media. Craig Bruce is
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: our executive producer, and for more information about making your
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: family safe and happy, visit Happy Families dot com, dot
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: a