Toddler OK after near drowning

Mary A. Castillo

It was the kind of call that emergency personnel hope they never get.

Huntington Beach firefighters responded to a call Friday about a

drowned child, said Capt. Scott Pokorny.

A mother found her 1 1/2-year-old girl face down in the families

Jacuzzi, she said, after looking away for just a minute. A nurse

practitioner, she immediately began CPR on young Meagan. When Pokorny and

his crew arrived, they were relieved to find the little girl conscious

and crying.

“Going to these calls gets your heart racing and you think, ‘not

another one of these,”’ Pokorny said. “But this was the kind of outcome

we like to see.”

Drowning is the leading cause of unintended death or injury for

children under the age of five, said Pokorny. Moreover, children can

drown in just three seconds.

Pokorny strongly advised anyone who has a swimming pool to not only

become CPR certified, but to also install or upgrade safety mechanisms

such as door and window alarms and gate latches that little hands can’t

reach. Another danger are toys left near pools.

“If the wind blows them into the water, they become a big attraction

for kids,” he said.

He also encouraged families to designate a “water watcher,” an

individual who just watches young swimmers during pool parties.

“Drownings are very tragic events for not only families, but for

paramedic and fire personnel who have young children at home,” he said.

Water safety brochures and water watcher tags are availableat all

Huntington Beach fire stations.