With the summer swim season underway, Dr. Steven Valassis, Chair of Emergency Medicine at Hartford HealthCare's St. Vincent's Medical Center in Connecticut, is urging families to take pool safety seriously, warning that drowning remains one of the leading causes of unintentional injury death in children and is frequently misunderstood by parents.

"One of the most sobering alerts we receive through the EMS notification system is that an ambulance is en route with a child who was pulled from a pool after a drowning event," said Dr. Valassis. "These situations leave an indelible mark on the minds and hearts of all involved in emergency care. The good news is that serious pool injuries are largely preventable with a few simple, common-sense precautions."

Supervision is the most critical factor. A survey cited in the release found that 48% of parents mistakenly believe they would hear splashing or crying if a child was in distress, when in reality pediatric drowning is often silent. Studies indicate that 68% of drowning deaths in children under five are linked to inadequate supervision, and 32% of parents report leaving a child unsupervised poolside for two minutes or longer. In 2023, 981 children under the age of 20 died from drowning in the United States, and each year more than 6,500 nonfatal pool or spa-related incidents are treated in emergency departments among children under 15. While swim lessons reduce risk, the American College of Pediatrics is clear that they will not make a child drown-proof.

Beyond supervision, Dr. Valassis highlights two additional hazards. Glass containers near pools pose a serious laceration risk, as broken glass is nearly invisible in water and nearly impossible to fully remove without draining the pool. Nearly 5% of glass-related lacerations are deep enough to require hospital admission and surgical repair. Diving in shallow water carries equally severe consequences: studies show that nearly 90% of diving injuries occur in water less than five feet deep, with more than 60% happening at the transition between the shallow and deep ends. The majority of spinal cord injuries from diving occur in home pools, where depth markers are often absent.

"Enjoy your summer," Valassis said. "A few simple safety measures can make all the difference. Swim smart and stay safe."

The timing of the warning is significant. July is the deadliest month of the year for drowning, according to CDC data, with provisional figures showing 759 accidental drowning deaths in July 2024 alone. Nationally, drowning deaths rose from roughly 4,000 per year in 2019 to more than 4,500 annually between 2020 and 2022. Seventy-three percent of child pool drownings occur between May and August, and for children under five, 87% of fatal pool drownings happen in residential settings, most in pools owned by family, friends, or relatives, reinforcing the urgency of the safety measures Dr. Valassis outlines for Connecticut families heading into peak summer weeks.