It's the last day of school in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties, and officials are putting an emphasis on water safety for the summer.
During a news conference earlier yesterday, Cassie McGovern shared her story and resources. She is the drowning prevention program manager for the Florida Department of Health in Broward County. "We have a problem because summer hasn't even started. And we've had we usually have an uptick around July 4th, Labor Day, Memorial Day..." McGovern lost one of her own children to drowning. "Being a mother of a drowning victim and also a mother of three young girls, when the incident happened, I felt like I was doing everything right, that I felt like I had the fence. I felt like I was at home. But again, knowledge is power. Education is the tool. " McGovern recommends starting swimming lessons for your child as early as six months old. Dr. Peter Antevy is an emergency room physician with Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. He talked about how important knowing CPR is. "We can quadruple survival just by doing the right thing. And that's really been a passion of mine here. If the patient's not awake and you can't wake them up, that's number one. If they're not breathing normally, you need to do CPR. " You can find more recommendations to prevent drowning at watersmartfl.com.
School's Out: Officials Urge People To Watch Their Kids Around The Water This Summer
