Water Safety Interview with Dr. Robert Karch

In recognition of Water Safety Month, Prevent Child Abuse Florida Executive Director Chris Lolley speaks with Dr. Robert Karch, the Deputy Secretary for Children’s Medical Services at the Florida Department of Health, about drowning prevention and urgent water safety issues parents need to know. Please note, some topics in this episode are heavy/troubling and may not be appropriate for children.

This episode was recorded on May 23, 2022.

Transcript

(Upbeat music)

Chris Lolley:

Hello, my name is Chris Lolley. I'm the executive director for Prevent Child Abuse Florida.

In working with children and families for over 30 years in the field of child welfare I find one truth stands out: every person can play a role in protecting children and supporting families.  Join me on the Pinwheel Podcast as I talk with other experts around the state about policies, practices, and programs that are making a difference right now for families in Florida. 

(Upbeat music stops)

Chris Lolley:

Hello everyone, thank you for joining us today. 

May is water Safety Month and although we've been conducting a variety of activities to help raise awareness of how to prevent drownings, we wanted to offer one last opportunity through this platform for people to learn more. 

You know each year in Florida we lose more children under the age 4 to accidental drowning to than to any other preventable cause of death. 

In fact, in 2021 we lost a record 100 children to this 100% preventable cause of death. 

And by the way, that's after only losing 69 children in calendar year 2020 and only 65 in the previous year. 

The thing to remember about drowning, though, as I said is it is 100% preventable and it's within our power to control. 

So what are we doing about it in Florida? 

Well, thankfully we have permission now to run a Water Safety Month campaign at Prevent Child Abuse Florida, much as we do in April for Child Abuse Prevention month, drawing attention not just to the fact that drowning can be prevented, but how it can be prevented. 

And with other partners like our friends at the Florida Department of Health, we're able to combine our efforts and share strategies and also to join together to make other resources available, such as learn to swim books that are available to any of our partners in the state ordering through the Prevent Child Abuse Florida website. 

I'm so glad to be able to welcome our guest today, Doctor Robert Karch, is with the Department of Health where he is deputy Secretary for Children's Medical Services and he's joining us today to discuss this topic. 

Welcome, Doctor Karch. 

Dr. Karch:

Thank you so much, Chris.  Nice to be here with you. 

Chris Lolley:

Thank you, thank you. You know, Doc, we talked a little bit about what we're doing, and I know there are other initiatives that you've embarked upon that the Department of Health has embarked upon, that may be in early stages of implementation or perhaps even on the horizon, such as the one that y'all did at the Orlando International Airport. Do you mind telling our audience a little about that? 

Dr. Karch:

Sure, Chris, you know Florida boasts world class beaches, beautiful rivers, lakes and abundant swimming pools. 

And yet water, as you know, can pose significant dangers without proper attention and implementation of safety measures. 

As you said, drowning is the fifth most common cause of preventable death in Florida amongst children zero to 17 years of age, and is the most common cause of preventable death in children ages one to four in our state. 

If we look at those deaths reviewed by the child Abuse Death Review Committee, drowning is the 2nd leading cause of death in Florida in children and infants and toddlers 3 years of age and younger make up 72% of all drowning fatalities in 2020, as reviewed by the Child Abuse Death Review committee

 ineffective barriers of protection and failure to provide adequate supervision to young children continue to be the primary contributing factors. 

00:04:23 Speaker 3 

So as you know, children medical services at the Department of Health Overseas the Child Abuse Death Review. 

00:04:32 Speaker 3 

Committee for the state and the ADR as it's called has studied factors contributing to preventable child abuse and neglect. 

00:04:40 Speaker 3 

Deaths in Florida, and issue recommendations each year as found in their annual report. 

00:04:47 Speaker 3 

And so we've taken those recommendations from the child Abuse Death Review and have initiated several statewide prevention efforts in alignment with our new state health improvement plan for 2022 to 2026. And so we are committed by 2026. 

00:05:08 Speaker 3 

To reduce drownings in the state of Florida in children 17 years of age and younger from 1.9 per 100,000 to 1.7 per 100,000 and we intend to do this in a variety of ways. 

00:05:21 Speaker 3 

Targeting both Florida residents and tourists, you know. 

00:05:25 Speaker 3 

Unfortunately, a lot of tourists come to our state from around the country and from around the world and on their trips. 

00:05:35 Speaker 3 

Regrettably, they have disasters related to drowning, and so too. 

00:05:42 Speaker 3 

Informed tourists, uh? 

00:05:45 Speaker 3 

Of the dangers that exist around water. 

00:05:49 Speaker 3 

We've started a campaign at the Orlando International Airport. 

00:05:54 Speaker 3 

As you mentioned, it's starting out as a simple educational campaign with prominent signage around baggage claim and rental car areas. 

00:06:04 Speaker 3 

We are enlisting. 

00:06:05 Speaker 3 

The assistance of the University of South Florida College of Public Health. 

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Social marketing division. 

00:06:13 Speaker 3 

To really test our messages, and they've already conducted passenger intercept interviews to really in an attempt to fine tune the message, see what resonates, how we can improve our our drowning prevention, water safety messaging, and this is an ongoing campaign. 

00:06:31 Speaker 3 

We've developed in association with our partners at the Department of Children and Families Messaging for short term rental properties. 

00:06:39 Speaker 3 

Airbnb and the like. 

00:06:41 Speaker 3 

Uh, to again raise awareness of the dangers of home swimming pools in a rental situation. 

00:06:49 Speaker 3 

So a family may be coming to Florida renting a helm with a pool they may not have pools where they're coming from, where they come from, and may not be used to the the requirements, the. 

00:07:03 Speaker 3 

Safety procedures that should be in place. 

00:07:05 Speaker 3 

So these are just two. 

00:07:07 Speaker 3 

We're getting positive feedback from other airports. 

00:07:11 Speaker 3 

We're getting lots of messages from airports around the state that are that are interested in doing this as well. 

00:07:18 Speaker 3 

And we're very fortunate in the governors. 

00:07:23 Speaker 3 

A budget. 

00:07:24 Speaker 3 

A $2.8 million were appropriated for child fatality prevention, so efforts related to sleep related infant death and drowning prevention. So we're very pleased and and grateful to. 

00:07:45 Speaker 3 

To the governor and for his leadership in appropriating this vitally important. 

00:07:52 Speaker 3 

Money for these these programs. 

00:07:55 Speaker 3 

I'll stop there for now, but these are just a couple of the efforts that we are undertaking. 

00:08:01 Speaker 2 

Yeah, thank you, Doctor Carter, you're absolutely right. 

00:08:05 Speaker 2 

We are very thankful to have these additional resources and the governor did proclaim may. 

00:08:12 Speaker 2 

2022 is water Safety Month in Florida. One other thing I wanted to mention to you, Doug, we we got a lot of ground to cover as, as you alluded to, we know most drowning accidents or incidents. I should say perhaps occur in swimming pools, but we also know young children. 

00:08:32 Speaker 2 

Can drown in very little water, so they can. 

00:08:35 Speaker 2 

Drown in bathtubs and buckets or ponds or ditches, or fountains, or hot tubs. 

00:08:42 Speaker 2 

There's just a lot of things that point us to the fact that the best way to prevent these tragedies is adult supervision and not having children unsupervised when they have access to or around water. 

00:08:57 Speaker 2 

So I just wanted to see if you wanted to comment on that. 

00:09:00 Speaker 3 

Well, that's absolutely true, and again, this is the highlights. The value of the data coming from the child abuse Death Review committees at the state level and the local CDR's from the ADR data. We know that children, infants under 12 months of age. 

00:09:20 Speaker 3 

Typically drowned in in standing bodies of water within the home, such as bathtubs and toilets. 

00:09:26 Speaker 3 

Like you said, buckets of water. 

00:09:28 Speaker 3 

As we get into the one to nine age group the majority of drownings happen in swimming pools and again it is the leading cause of preventable death. 

00:09:40 Speaker 3 

As we mentioned before in children, one to four years of age in this state as we progress. 

00:09:48 Speaker 3 

Past nine years of age and enter adolescence and early adulthood, drownings tend to become more frequent in. 

00:09:55 Speaker 3 

In natural bodies of water, oceans, lakes and even retention ponds as you as you mentioned, retention ponds are an issue for children of all ages. 

00:10:08 Speaker 3 

I think this issue needs great attention. 

00:10:12 Speaker 3 

We have lots of retention ponds here in Florida. 

00:10:18 Speaker 3 

Communities there are retention ponds everywhere, natural or artificial barriers of protection are essential. 

00:10:25 Speaker 3 

But as you mentioned. 

00:10:27 Speaker 3 

By far the primary contributing factors are inadequate barriers of prevention in inadequate adult supervision of young children. 

00:10:40 Speaker 2 

Yeah, yeah, let's let's talk about that for just a second dog. 

00:10:44 Speaker 2 

'cause I know that's been the focus of one of the main men. 

00:10:47 Speaker 2 

Such as that we've been trying to get out there, is that it? 

00:10:52 Speaker 2 

It sometimes could be that even a group of adults who were gathered for a party a gathering of some kind. 

00:11:00 Speaker 2 

They there may be out of beads, they may be around the pool and it's easy to assume that someone else. 

00:11:07 Speaker 2 

Is watching the children so well. 

00:11:09 Speaker 2 

One of the things messages we've been promoting is to designate. 

00:11:13 Speaker 2 

What we call. 

00:11:14 Speaker 2 

A water watcher. 

00:11:15 Speaker 2 

Someone who's going to be dedicated to watching the order. 

00:11:19 Speaker 2 

And I've heard it said that we could go in shifts, maybe because it is hard to hold your attention for very long to ask someone to focus on one specific thing for a longer period of time. 

00:11:33 Speaker 2 

So there's been the suggestion that that people approach that in 15 minute increments. 

00:11:39 Speaker 2 

But we know drowning can happen very quickly, so we also want to say. 

00:11:44 Speaker 2 

That if if a child is missing and there's a search that's being conducted that we want to encourage people to check the water first. 

00:11:54 Speaker 2 

So I'd love to hear your thoughts on either of those. 

00:11:57 Speaker 3 

As you said, Chris drowning happens quickly, and unlike in the movies, it often happens silently and so constant vigilance on the part of supervising adults is critical. 

00:12:12 Speaker 3 

So there is this concept of a water watcher we've developed, and you know these well, the water watcher lanyards that go around your neck that indicate that if you're the one wearing the lanyard, you're the one with your eyes on the pool. 

00:12:25 Speaker 3 

Never take your eyes off them, especially if you're the designated water watcher. 

00:12:30 Speaker 3 

We're creating some. 

00:12:32 Speaker 3 

Variants of that, some visors, perhaps wristbands. 

00:12:36 Speaker 3 

The concept is the same is that there needs to be constant adult supervision, especially when there are many kids in a swimming situation and we've all been too. 

00:12:47 Speaker 3 

Birthday parties and gatherings where you know there are lots of kids swimming in the pool with what's apparent is inadequate adult supervision. 

00:12:59 Speaker 3 

It is critical now that being said, 3% of. 

00:13:05 Speaker 3 

Childhood drownings happen during swim time activities, so that's a small percentage. 

00:13:11 Speaker 3 

It's still vitally important that if there's, you know, swimming, going on that there be an adult watching carefully designated water watcher, but. 

00:13:23 Speaker 3 

As important is adequate adult supervision at all times, as well as barriers of protection, self latching gates, pool alarms, door alarms. 

00:13:36 Speaker 3 

We know from our child abuse, Death Review Committee, data that barriers are often breached, such as. 

00:13:44 Speaker 3 

I back. 

00:13:45 Speaker 3 

More and we need to make sure that the home and pool area is properly secured. 

00:13:53 Speaker 3 

Proper safety measures in all homes. 

00:13:56 Speaker 2 

Especially with toddlers doc, you know, I think I've heard, and I'm sure you've heard to children, especially toddlers, are very curious, so things like not leaving toys in the pool, or maybe even we've heard of children crawling through dog doors. 

00:14:15 Speaker 2 

To get, uh. 

00:14:16 Speaker 2 

Egress you know to to be able to enter those areas where perhaps no one watching we also. 

00:14:24 Speaker 2 

Know that distraction is deadly for children and and you mentioned the the numbers in terms of how many children actually drown in pools. 

00:14:34 Speaker 2 

Whether that's lack of supervision or barriers, all those things are important, but we also want to cut down on or eliminate distraction. 

00:14:44 Speaker 2 

Things like if you're giving your child bath, prepare. 

00:14:48 Speaker 2 

Before you go in to give your child a bath, don't answer the door. Don't go out into the other room to check your phone messages and don't try to do other chores while your child's in the bathtub because we know it can happen very quickly. 

00:15:07 Speaker 3 

Yeah yeah. 

00:15:08 Speaker 3 

And and and drowning can happen in just small amounts of water, certainly, uh? 

00:15:13 Speaker 3 

That it happens with frequencies, so in the time that it takes to answer a phone call in the other room and the time that it takes to change the clothes from the laundry machine to the dryer, it it can happen in that brief period of time, so constant supervision it can happen. 

00:15:33 Speaker 3 

To you, I think that. 

00:15:35 Speaker 3 

The The There's a prevailing sense that yes drownings happen, but it could never happen to me or my child. 

00:15:45 Speaker 3 

That's something we have to overcome in and hopefully our you know our work with USF will will highlight that notion that it can happen to anybody. 

00:15:55 Speaker 3 

You know, I became interested in childhood drowning 3 years ago this week. 

00:16:01 Speaker 3 

Three years ago, a pediatric colleague of mine. 

00:16:05 Speaker 3 

Lost her 13 month old toddler to drowning and again it was a brief lapse of supervision and inadequate barriers of protection that led to this tragedy. 

00:16:20 Speaker 3 

This is how I became interested and really started learning about what a problem it really is everywhere and here in Florida so far just in 2022, we've lost 23 children under the age of 18 in Florida. That number was 18. 

00:16:40 Speaker 3 

In on May 1st of this year, it's now May 23rd. It's now 23 fatalities, so five just in the 1st 23 days of May. So this is critical constant supervision. It can happen to anyone and it just takes at. 

00:17:00 Speaker 3 

Brief lapse of attention, which can happen to anybody. 

00:17:05 Speaker 2 

Yeah, it's such an excellent point. 

00:17:07 Speaker 2 

That's why we need the redundant barriers. 

00:17:10 Speaker 2 

You know, it's not just supervision. 

00:17:11 Speaker 2 

It's not just offense, but it's also things like swimming lessons. 

00:17:17 Speaker 2 

And now you know I'd had no idea that children as young as six months of age could take swimming lessons. 

00:17:25 Speaker 2 

Until I witnessed it for myself and it's really amazing. 

00:17:29 Speaker 2 

So it's just a wonderful thing that people can do to have their children be able to self rescue at least so they can get to the side of pool 'cause we know all those other redundant tools can break down. 

00:17:42 Speaker 2 

And they do sometimes. 

00:17:44 Speaker 3 

Yeah yeah Chris, you mentioned. 

00:17:47 Speaker 3 

Uh, high quality swim classes you know you'll hear the the four layers of protection we've already talked about adequate adult supervision and adequate barriers of protection. 

00:18:00 Speaker 3 

The other two commonly spoken of layers of protection are knowing CPR. 

00:18:06 Speaker 3 

OK, taking the time to learn CPR and enrolling your child in high quality swim class. 

00:18:13 Speaker 3 

To to that end, we are working with some of our managed care organizations around the state. It's a little known benefit in most people's insurance plan coverage that they are actually provided by their insurance company. 

00:18:30 Speaker 3 

A benefits for swim classes in our children. 

00:18:35 Speaker 3 

Medical Services managed care plan. 

00:18:37 Speaker 3 

We do have a benefit for our enrollees to enroll children in swim. 

00:18:43 Speaker 3 

Classes we're working with other managed care organizations to make sure that they offer this benefit that there are some swim competencies water competencies that that graduates of the program should know, like turning over floating and escaping from the pool and and we're working on that and. 

00:19:03 Speaker 3 

And that's exciting. 

00:19:04 Speaker 3 

There is the every child of swimmer legislation. 

00:19:07 Speaker 3 

That is that went into effect this past January and they will be implemented really upon the return of children to school this year where you know. 

00:19:16 Speaker 3 

Kindergartners will be assessed on their, you know whether they've had a swim experience and if not, local resources will be provided to the child and and his or her family. 

00:19:28 Speaker 3 

We'd like to see that concept in the preschool age, and you know, child care setting as well, because really, our. 

00:19:36 Speaker 3 

Main problem if you will, is that one to four age group, so we'd like to see the swim classes. 

00:19:46 Speaker 3 

Uh, offered to these toddlers as well. 

00:19:52 Speaker 2 

It's such a great thing, I think to have. 

00:19:55 Speaker 2 

It it's so. 

00:19:57 Speaker 2 

Heartening to hear additional resources are being directed at this at this terrible tragedy that affects too many families? 

00:20:06 Speaker 2 

Doctor kartu? 

00:20:08 Speaker 2 

You mentioned a couple of things that I just want to piggyback on. 

00:20:11 Speaker 2 

One is. 

00:20:12 Speaker 2 

Swimming lessons and I want to throw this out there too is that? 

00:20:17 Speaker 2 

Speaking of throw, you can throw a rock from just about anywhere in Florida and hit water so we know we have to be more astute about our approach to this problem to to be able to prevent these tragedies, we have a water safety toolkit. 

00:20:36 Speaker 2 

On our website that has a lot of tools and a lot of social media, images and videos that go along with the campaign, people can share those. 

00:20:48 Speaker 2 

We talked about barriers. 

00:20:50 Speaker 2 

We talked about having children, being able to take swimming lessons, but I just want to say. 

00:20:56 Speaker 2 

If we can approach this as a family affair, we know there are a lot of adults who don't know how to swim too. 

00:21:04 Speaker 2 

And what would they do if their children were in trouble and there was no one around? 

00:21:09 Speaker 2 

We know those tragedies can multiply sometimes when there's not anyone around who can swim. 

00:21:16 Speaker 2 

So it's really never too late to learn to swim, and we want to encourage adults to learn to swim. 

00:21:23 Speaker 2 

Two, in addition to keeping their eyes on the children, so just approaching it as a family thing. 

00:21:29 Speaker 2 

Enjoy the water. 

00:21:31 Speaker 2 

It's beautiful, the water brings a lot of relaxation opportunities, recreational opportunities. 

00:21:38 Speaker 2 

We just need to be safe whether we're boating or whether we're just going to the beach for the day right, though. 

00:21:44 Speaker 3 

That's right, that's right. 

00:21:45 Speaker 3 

In addition to the resource that you mentioned the website, there's all. 

00:21:49 Speaker 3 

So water smartflorida.com that's water smartfell.com lots of resources available at that website as well. 

00:22:00 Speaker 3 

In addition to the 100 children who died from drowning in 2021, there were 369 adults. 

00:22:10 Speaker 3 

Who drowned in 2021? So yes. Boating safety. 

00:22:16 Speaker 3 

Lifejackets, all of the safety measures, again apply to adults as well as children. 

00:22:25 Speaker 2 

We talked about kids drowning in bathtubs, and one thing that we've seen, I just read just the other day about a case where the caregiver relied on an older. 

00:22:37 Speaker 2 

Labeling to watch the younger sibling while they were in the bathtub and and that really isn't a good idea. 

00:22:45 Speaker 2 

Both those children wound up drowning in the bathtub. 

00:22:48 Speaker 2 

That's the kind of tragedy we're trying to avoid. 

00:22:51 Speaker 2 

So don't parents. 

00:22:53 Speaker 2 

Please don't use your older siblings to supervise. 

00:22:58 Speaker 2 

Their siblings in the tub. 

00:22:59 Speaker 2 

If both of them can be in there at the same time, they're probably pretty young. 

00:23:03 Speaker 3 

Yeah, yeah, that that's a great point, Chris. 

00:23:06 Speaker 3 

I I I do think that I. 

00:23:10 Speaker 3 

I we we have to do something about barriers, natural and artificial barriers around retention ponds that needs to be done soon and and I do think that we should mention children with special health care needs such as children. 

00:23:30 Speaker 3 

With autism. 

00:23:31 Speaker 3 

It's been shown that children with autism drown at a rate of 165 times that of neuro normative children. Parents of autistic children have described their children as being drawn to water. Additionally, they describe their children. 

00:23:51 Speaker 3 

As Wanderers, if they get out, they'll wander around and so I think additional resources directed to children and families. 

00:24:03 Speaker 3 

Families with children with special health care needs, such as autistic. 

00:24:06 Speaker 3 

Children are necessary. 

00:24:08 Speaker 3 

To that end, we'll be distributing door alarms as well as ensuring that those door alarms are properly installed as part of our new initiatives. 

00:24:22 Speaker 2 

It's so good to hear about all the resources, all the information that we've discussed today. 

00:24:29 Speaker 2 

Doc a. 

00:24:30 Speaker 2 

Just want to thank you for being with us today. 

00:24:32 Speaker 2 

Is there any other information Nuggets of wisdom that you would like to share with our audience before we wrap? 

00:24:40 Speaker 3 

Again, Chris, thanks for inviting me. 

00:24:43 Speaker 3 

It's always wonderful to partner with prevent child abuse Florida a great partner with the Department of Health and the Department of Children and Families. 

00:24:54 Speaker 3 

We are tackling this problem United. 

00:24:58 Speaker 3 

We have set goals. 

00:25:01 Speaker 3 

In our state health improvement plan, we're going to meet those goals and we have. 

00:25:06 Speaker 3 

A war plan. 

00:25:09 Speaker 3 

OK to attack it together. 

00:25:12 Speaker 3 

All of our sister agencies, state agencies and partner organizations such as prevent child abuse. 

00:25:20 Speaker 3 

We will solve this problem here in this wonderful state and. 

00:25:27 Speaker 3 

If anybody who's listening to this podcast has ideas, connections to resource. 

00:25:33 Speaker 3 

This is I encourage them to reach out to you to me so that we can implement their good ideas. 

00:25:41 Speaker 3 

This is a collective effort to solve a problem that is 100% preventable, and we're going to do it. 

00:25:48 Speaker 2 

Well, thank you doctor carts for being with us today. 

00:25:51 Speaker 2 

The collaboration is certainly one of my favorite things and I just want to thank you personally for all the extension of of our collaboration that we've been able to to do over the past couple of years. 

00:26:06 Speaker 2 

Do we have a ways to go? 

00:26:07 Speaker 2 

Of course. 

00:26:08 Speaker 2 

We do. 

00:26:09 Speaker 2 

But you're absolutely right, being able to collaborate and expanding those efforts and looking for other partners or nontraditional partners even. 

00:26:19 Speaker 2 

I'm really glad you mentioned the autism as well, because we do know those children are drawn to water. 

00:26:25 Speaker 2 

We hear that from our colleagues and I just want to thank you. 

00:26:29 Speaker 2 

Again, Doctor Kartes for taking the time to be with us today to talk about water safety. 

00:26:35 Speaker 2 

Thank you very much. 

00:26:37 Speaker 3 

It's a pleasure, Chris. 

00:26:38 Speaker 3 

Thank you for having me. 

00:26:39 Speaker 4 

Thank you for listening to the Pinwheel podcast. 

00:26:42 Speaker 4 

Hope for Florida families to contact us or learn more. 

00:26:46 Speaker 4 

Visit prevent child abuse LTE org.