We really appreciate people linking to us via social media and we would like you to keep us in your Facebook feed.

For the longest time, Facebook gave you no ability to control what content you see or keep in your Facebook news feed. We really appreciate how many people  have already “liked” our Facebook page. But only a fraction actually see Samuel Morris Foundation posts in their news feed. That’s because a Facebook algorithm started making the decisions for you, showing you material from some people/pages, and not others (wanting us to pay to get into your news feed… but you should have the choice to keep us in your Facebook feed!)

Now, Facebook has finally introduced a new feature that will let you control what you see. Please check out the instructions below. When you’re done reading them, consider giving us a Like on Facebook (and asking your network to do the same), and then set your news feed accordingly. (You get bonus points if you Follow us on Twitter too!)

• If you’re using a mobile phone, open the Facebook app, click the “More” icon along the bottom of the app, then scroll down and click “Newsfeed preferences,” then click “Prioritize who to see first,” and make your picks. (You can select more than one item.)
• If you’re using Facebook on a computer, click on the downward facing arrow on the top nav bar, then click “Newsfeed preferences,” locate one of the people or publishers you follow, and change the setting from “Following” to “See First.”

Hope that this is helpful, and we look forward to sharing with across social media.

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Today a post appeared in the online version of Woman’s Day referring to a child almost dying in her sleep and referring to a “delayed drowning”… Firstly we must say that we are glad that Harper Svilicic has made a full recovery, and we are grateful for her mothers efforts to raise awareness….

However, it is sad that the Journalist involved in this piece appears to have done not one single piece of research beyond repeating anecdotes told to Harpers mother.

This is a shame as the story represented a very real opportunity to educate the community about the reality of both drowning and non-fatal drowning and the correct terminology , and the importance of EVERY PERSON WHO EXPERIENCES RESPIRATORY IMPAIRMENT AS A RESULT OF BEING UNDER WATER BEING CHECKED OUT BY MEDICAL PERSONNEL… rather than to just create a sensationalist headline and follow it with a scary story that will put more fear into parents. A simple phone call to a Children’s Hospital Trauma Unit, an organisation like Royal Life Saving Society, or an organisation like us could have resulted in a story with greater substance and educational outcomes.

We have previously written about the importance of getting the right terminology and accurately educating the community about the risks of drowning and non-fatal drowning.

The reality in Australia is that for every fatal child drowning, there are around TEN responses to Non-fatal Drowning (Wallis et al, 2015 ⁶ )with four children admitted to hospital and around one quarter of them experiencing some form of long term injury ⁸.

From the content of the Woman’s Day article it would be a reasonable assumption that the “Minor dunking that she quickly shook off” resulted in Harper having some coughing and spluttering, and as we will explain below.. this meant that Harper had in fact started the process of drowning.

As this issue is so vital, we are repeating some of the important information below and providing some clarity around what drowning is and what the outcomes of it can be.

Drowning

Until 2002 defining drowning had not been a clear process, in fact there where well over 20 different definitions associated with drowning. including wet drowning, dry drowning, active or passive drowning, secondary drowning or silent drowning.

At the 2002  the World Congress on Drowning a range of experts suggested a new consensus definition for drowning and they required that the new definition should include cases of both fatal and non-fatal drowning. So from 2002 onwards the official definition of drowning  has been

Drowning is defined as a process resulting in primary respiratory impairment from submersion in a liquid medium.

None of the terms like dry drowning, wet drowning, secondary drowning are to be used.

If someone has difficulty breathing as a result of being underwater then they have started the process of drowning!

Simple isn’t it….

Well not quite….

So now there is the problem.. this is a nice simple medical explanation of drowning, and the reason that such a nice definition is useful is that it enables other processes, such as coding entries within hospital admission processes and it also allows researchers to draw more meaningful conclusions from pooled data and make it easier to improve injury surveillance and prevention activities.

Defining drowning outcomes

In reaching the consensus definition they also reached a consensus on  some definitions around the outcomes of drowning. The outcomes of a drowning ( as described in the World Health Organisations  Policy and Practice guidelines) can be  rapid or delayed death, morbidity , or life without morbidity. If the person does not die from the drowning, then it is a Non-Fatal Drowning with or without morbidity.

Drowning leading to rapid or delayed death

A rapid death after an immersion is a fairly straight forward concept to understand, but what about delayed death after a drowning? A death within 24hrs of an immersion will be classified as a drowning death.

When they don’t die?

As described above the medical fraternity now includes non-fatal drowning cases in the definition of drowning, but defines them by outcome, either with morbidity of without morbidity.

Understanding morbidity.

Medical dictionaries define morbidity as:

• an illness or abnormal condition or quality
• (in statistics) the rate at which an illness or abnormality occurs, calculated by dividing the number of people who are affected within a group by the entire number of people in that group
• the rate at which an illness occurs in a particular area or population.

So for the purposes of this discussion, clearly it is the first of these definitions that is in operation.

Non-Fatal Drowning with morbidity

Many have investigated and reported on outcome and possible predictors. ^,1,2,3 However, no single system is comprehensive and there are pitfalls in the methodologies used.⁴   There are a number of researchers continuing to look at these issues.

Generally, the intuitive view stands: the shorter the submersion time and the shorter the delay to CPR or medical treatment, the better the outcome.

• Prognosis is ultimately related directly to the duration and magnitude of hypoxia.
• The most significant impact on morbidity and mortality occurs before arrival at hospital.
• Poor survival is associated with the need for continued cardiopulmonary resuscitation efforts in hospital (if this is required around 35-60% die in the emergency department and 60-100% have long-term neurological sequelae).
• Even with hypothermia, intact survival of comatose patients is still quite uncommon.
• In warm water immersion, those who were not doing well at 24 hours have a poor neurological outcome.⁵

As we consistently remind people, and the reason that this foundation exists, is that according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare approximately one quarter of all people admitted to hospital following a drowning will experience what the medical fraternity calls moderate to severe sequalae, which in the case of drownings, are predominantly hypoxic brain injuries.

Non-Fatal Drowning without morbidity

This is an interesting way to say that the casualty fully recovers. We recently posted about a number of successful outcomes and some associated issues, so we will not explore this issue here.

A plain english summary..

So to summarise all of the above….. (with a succinct statement from our friend Dr Justin Sempsrott ⁷, from Lifeguards Without Borders and Starfish Aquatics Institute)

1. Any person – adult or child – who has been in or under the water and has symptoms of difficulty breathing, excessive cough, foam or froth in the mouth, or aren’t acting right that occur immediately or within a few hours of being in the water had a non-fatal drowning and should seek care from a doctor. Symptoms usually appear immediately, but may be delayed by a few hours or get progressively worse. Onset or worsening of symptoms usually occurs within the first 8 hours of submersion.

2. There is no such thing as “dry” or “wet”, “delayed”, or “secondary” drowning. Anyone with respiratory impairment, not acting right, excessive cough, foam, or lethargy after being underwater, even briefly, should be taken to a hospital for further evaluation. Drowning is a spectrum ranging from mild to moderate to severe.  There is no such thing as “near” drowning. A person who does not die from a drowning incident has suffered a non-fatal drowning and survives with either no complications or with brain or other organ damage ranging from mild, to moderate to severe.

4. One of the reasons it is so important that we speak the same language is that we can get a better understanding of the scope of the drowning problem and learn to better prevent and treat it.

5. To better understand the scope of the non-fatal drowning problem we must use correct terminology when speaking to clients, the media, each other, and through social media.

 Back to Harpers Story in Woman’s Day

Clearly Harper experienced some respiratory impairment from her “minor dunking that she quickly shook off” meaning that the process of drowning had begun.. over the proceeding hours the symptoms of this respiratory impairment started to show themselves….coughing, gasping, shortness of breath, probably an associated fever and lethargy…  Thankfully Harper received medical care and the outcome is good.

There is a very clear message to ALL parents…. if your child is submerged and experiences ANY respiratory impairment as a result of that immersion then IT IS VITAL THAT THEY ARE CHECKED BY MEDICAL PERSONNEL.

There is also a message for Journalists…. PLEASE… do your research and help educate the community about such a vitally important subject like drowning, rather than continue to spread misinformation.

References:

1. Zuckerman GB, Gregory PM, Santos-Damiani SM; Predictors of death and neurologic impairment in pediatric submersion injuries. The Pediatric Risk of Mortality Score. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1998 Feb;152(2):134-40. [abstract]
2. Habib DM, Tecklenburg FW, Webb SA, et al; Prediction of childhood drowning and near-drowning morbidity and mortality. Pediatr Emerg Care. 1996 Aug;12(4):255-8. [abstract]
3. Oakes DD, Sherck JP, Maloney JR, et al; Prognosis and management of victims of near-drowning. J Trauma. 1982 Jul;22(7):544-9. [abstract]
4. Dueker CW; Immersion in fresh water and survival. Chest. 2004 Dec;126(6):2027-8; author reply 2028-9.
5. Bratton SL, Jardine DS, Morray JP; Serial neurologic examinations after near drowning and outcome.; Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med.1994 Feb;148(2):167-70. [abstract]
6. Wallis BA, Watt K, Franklin RC, Nixon JW, Kimble RM (2015) Drowning Mortality and Morbidity Rates in Children and Adolescents 0-19yrs: A Population-Based Study in Queensland, Australia. PLoS ONE 10(2): e0117948. doi:10.1371/journal. pone.0117948
7. Sempsrott, J., Hawkins, S.C. (2015)   Use of Terms Near, Dry, Delayed and Secondary Drowing. Position Statement for Starfish Aquatics Insitute, online (Retrieved 15 April 2015)
8. Henley G & Kreisfield R 2008. Deaths and hospitalisations due to drowning, Australia 1999-00 to 2003-04. Injury research and statistics series no. 39. Cat. no. INJCAT 109. Canberra: AIHW.

The post Let’s be clear about drowning and non-fatal drowning! appeared first on Samuel Morris Foundation.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 26 February 2015

NSW Government delay to implementation of Pool Safety Regulations for Sale and Lease of property continue to put childrens lives at risk

Samuel Morris Foundation Managing Director, Michael Morris, said “Today the NSW Government announced a delay to the implementation of provisions requiring a certificate of compliance for the sale or lease of a property with a swimming pool. The NSW Government has had two years since they announced these changes to ensure that everything is in place. Sadly this delay will continue to put childrens lives at risk.

In the Governments notification of the delay it acknowledges that 95% of pools are failing to comply with the legislation that is already in place regarding the safety of back yard swimming pools. It is already the law that these pools should be compliant.

Advocacy groups such as ours have repeatedly told the Government that there is a significant issue with the non-compliance of pools with existing legislation; it is therefore no surprise to the government that 95% of pools would be failing inspections at the point of sale or lease.

It has been shown that children are at greater risk in the period of moving into a property with a swimming pool, it is already the law that these pools SHOULD be compliant, the sale and lease provisions are an opportunity to demonstrate this, and to ensure that if a children are to move into the property after the sale, that the pool is compliant, minimising the risk to these children ”

If the government has failed to consult with the industry organisation representing pool trades and services to ensure that they were adequately prepared for the volume of work that the legislation would produce, that is a failure of the Government, and the industry which has also now been aware of these requirements for two years.

If the provisions were introduced on 29 April 2015 as planned, then over the next twelve months in excess of 34,000 homes with swimming pools would be certified as compliant with existing legislation. This delay means that around 95% of those pools are likely to continue to remain non compliant.

I re-iterate, IT IS ALREADY THE LAW that these pools should be compliant, advocacy groups such as ours are only asking that the Government get on with ensuring compliance with the EXISTING law, the sale and lease provisions are one component to speed up this process and ensure pools are compliant at a time of heightened risk.

I would also like to acknowledge the significant work that the Office of Local Government, the Building Professionals Board, Local Councils and other advocacy organisations such as Royal Life Saving have put into preparation for the 2015 roll out of the sale and lease provisions. It is my understanding that all of these organisations were adequately prepared for the planned 2015 roll out of the sale and lease provisions.

For interviews regarding the issues surrounding the experience of families of near drowning survivors, or interviews to reinforce pool safety messages please contact Michael Morris on 0404 552 429 

ENDS 

The post Media Release: NSW Govt decision continues to risk children’s lives appeared first on Samuel Morris Foundation.

Today, February 22 marks one year since the inspiration for this Foundation, Samuel Benjamin Morris took his last breath and let go of this life.

He has inspired not only the work of this foundation, but so much in so many. So today we will continue to celebrate this special little man, and at the same time pause and reflect on all of those affected by both fatal and non-fatal drowning.

The post One year on… appeared first on Samuel Morris Foundation.

Despite research and some good media around previous posts about what drowning really looks like, it is a sad reality that most people simply don’t know.

It is easy to talk about what drowning looks like from an observers point of view. However, one journalist recently experienced her own scare while at a public pool with her child.

She called the Samuel Morris Foundation and spoke to Jo-ann as part of her research, and Jo-ann is quoted in the article.

I would encourage you all to have a read of the article, it is a good reminder that drowning is silent, that it can and does happen even in busy places with lots of people looking on, that the victims are rendered unable to assist themselves and of the things to look out for.

You can find the Essential Kids article here What drowning really looks like.

The post What drowning really looks like; A first hand account appeared first on Samuel Morris Foundation.

As the weather warms up so too does the rate of fatal and non-fatal drowning. While drowning is a year round concern for young children the warmer months of the year are the peak period as the water becomes more and more attractive to children and family events begin to revolve around back yard pools and other acquatic locations.

On the back of the release of the National Drowning Report by Royal Life Saving Society just yesterday, today we have seen the news of a child being involved in a non-fatal drowning in a backyard swimming pool in Telopea, Western Sydney.

Careflight Helicopter services have praised the actions of a mother that has resulted in the successful resuscitation of her 15 month old child.

The toddler was cold, unresponsive and not breathing when pulled from the pool at about 10.30am.

They first sounds the Careflight doctor and paramedic heard when they arrived at the location after a short flight and drive by police from a local park  was the toddler’s crying, the mother having succeeded in her initial resuscitation efforts. CareFlight immediately gave oxygen and took steps to raise his low body temperature before accompanying him and his mum in a road ambulance to the Children’s Hospital at Westmead for further treatment.

She later told doctors she had never been trained in CPR but “just knew what to do.”

While the drowning fatal drowning rate for children aged 0-4 reduced to 20 deaths this year, emerging research is showing that the hospitalisation rate for non-fatal drowning rate is actually as high as ten to one for every fatal drowning.

The Samuel Morris Foundation have seen first hand the devastation that can result from both fatal and non-fatal drowning events, and are calling on all parents to be extremely vigilant to help prevent the tragic toll of death and disability amongst Australian children.

We would encourage everyone to share the link to this story and the following graphic to educate their family and friends about the four factors that will help reduce this burden.

 (link to the page with this graphic  )

The post Non-fatal drowning incident serves as a reminder as the weather warms up appeared first on Samuel Morris Foundation.

Royal Life Society of Australia released the National Drowning Report yesterday. The good news is that the report shows a decline in the deaths of children aged 0-4. in 2013/14 twenty Australian children aged 0-4 lost their lives to drowning.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2008) shows that for every drowning death there are at least another four hospitalisations due to non-fatal drowning and almost one quarter of these will be left with some form of long term consequences from the incident.

More recent emerging data (in press, and Royal Life Saving Western Australia 2014) is showing that this figure is possibly significantly under reported, with the new data showing that the ratio is actually 1:10.

This new data has significant potential impact on cost benefit analysis about drowning prevention interventions such as amendments to Swimming Pool Safety Legislation.

The Samuel Morris Foundation, established in March 2007, after the non-fatal drowning of Samuel Morris left him with severe disabilites as a result of an hypoxic brain injury, is Australia’s first charity supporting children disabled by non-fatal drowning (or other hypoxic brain injuries) and preventing future drowning deaths and disabilities through education and awareness. The Samuel Morris Foundation is proud to work in partnership with peak bodies such as Royal Life Saving Society as part of our prevention activities.

The sad reality is that twenty children losing their life to drowning and potentially hundreds more being rescued, resuscitated and attending hospital is way TOO many. There is much more to be done as a community to help reduce this tragic toll of death and disability in Australian children.

This infographic was released today by Royal Life Saving to coincide with the release of the National Drowning Report.

(This piece was originally published on Linked In by Michael Morris our Managing Director)

The post How many children? appeared first on Samuel Morris Foundation.

On 24 January  The Samuel Morris Foundation  appeared on Channel 10’s “The Project”  to discuss what drowning really looks like.

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WHAT DO YOU THINK DROWNING LOOKS LIKE?

Many people have a view of what drowning looks like that is based on the portrayal of drowning in movies…..

You probably think it looks like someone waving frantically, yelling….. BUT it does not….. a person doing these actions may well be in distress, but they are not yet “drowning” as such, and will be able to assist in their own rescue if they are thrown floatation devices, life lines etc.

UNDERSTANDING THE INSTINCTIVE DROWNING RESPONSE

Dr Frank Pia described the “instinctive drowning response”  a set of behaviours and actions that drowning people will display.

Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled, before speech occurs.

Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people’s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.

Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water, permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.

Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.

From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.

(Source: On Scene Magazine: Fall 2006 (page 14))

LEARN WHAT TO LOOK FOR….

This classic piece of film captured by Dr Francesco Pia during his research you can see a child performing the instinctive drowning response. (the clip starts at 38 seconds in and is narrated by Dr Pia.

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This youtube clip shows what to look for in greater detail… pay attention, what you learn could help you make the difference between life, disability or death…….

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YOU HAVE LESS THAN ONE MINUTE……

It is vitally important to realise just how quickly this process occurs… as Dr Pia mentions this whole process lasts between 20 and 60 seconds… and in young children will not be as pronounced as in adults.

In 20 seconds the person could be underwater, inhaling water into their lungs and beginning to suffer an oxygen deficit which if they are quickly rescued may result in an hypoxic brain injury and life long complications or death… and if not quickly rescued certain DEATH.

KNOW YOU KNOW WHAT IT REALLY LOOKS LIKE…

You can follow all of the recommended safety rules to help prevent getting into this scenario:

• Always supervise children on, in and around the water
• Make sure swimming pool barriers are in good working order and gates always self close and are NEVER propped open.
• At parties, assign an adult to be the designated supervisor or kids in and around water, rotate the role every 15 minutes to stay fresh and focused.
• NEVER swim alone
• Always wear a PFD when boating, kayaking or rock fishing

The post LEARN What drowning REALLY looks like appeared first on Samuel Morris Foundation.

Summer 2013/14 is off to a shocking start with two non-fatal drownings in the one afternoon, within hours of each other.

Child drowning is a year round issue, however the summer months always represent a sharp increase in the number of fatal and non-fatal drownings.

A two year old was pulled unconscious from a backyard pool in Cronulla. Less than two hours earlier a four year old was pulled from the water unconscious at the Sydney Olympic Park Centre. Both children were administered CPR at the scene.

Unfortunately the two year old  was  in a critical condition in hospital and lost the battle for life the following afternoon (as a result of dying within 24hrs this death will now be recorded as a drowning fatality), while the four year old is in a stable condition.

For every drowning death there are at least four children admitted to hospital following non-fatal drowning incidents and almost one quarter of these children will experience a brain injury that results in disabilities for life.

The Samuel Morris Foundation’s thoughts are with the families as they learn the fate of their children and come to terms with what this means for their futures.

We wish to remind all parents and pool owners that water safety for young children consists of four key factors

• Adult Supervision – Keep children under age 4 within arms reach whenever in, on or around the water.
• Effective Barriers – Make sure that pool fences are correctly installed and well maintained.
• Water Familiarisation – Get children enrolled in learn to swim/water familiarisation lessons as early as possible.
• Learn CPR – Knowing the skills when an incident occurs could be the difference between life and death.

UPDATE – 8.30PM 2 December.

The tragic start to summer has continued with the drowning death of a one year old year old girl in Palmerston, Northern Territory.

The post A shocking start to summer – Two non-fatal drownings within hours of each other appeared first on Samuel Morris Foundation.

Royal Life Saving Society – Australia have released the 2013 National Drowning report.

The report reveals an overall increase in deaths.. but Shockingly a 48% increase in the number of 0-4 year olds who lost their lives to drowning. That means that in the last year the equivalent of one whole school class has lost their lives to drowning. We must also remember that for every one of those deaths there at least another 4 children admitted to hospital following non-fatal drownings (AIHW 2008) and one of those children with be left with some form of life long disability, so effectively another whole class of children are left disabled.

After four years of declining numbers this sudden and large spike in the drowning numbers is very concerning, especially as many of them have occurred in back yard swimming pools with no or faulty fencing.

This spike in drowning deaths comes despite a number of pieces of new legislation in this area around the country. We believe that on top of continuing education to reinforce the need for effective adult supervision,  we need ONE Nationally consistent set of pool fencing legislation and regulations so that the same construction, and maintenance standards and inspection programs apply to all swimming pools. It does not matter if the pool is in a residential backyard in metroplitan Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or any other capital, or if it is in the backyard in a regional or rural setting, a backyard swimming pool represents the same risks to a toddler and should therefore have the same rules apply to it.

PLEASE, Supervise kids on, in and around water, put in place effective barriers (and make sure the pool fence is well maintained), Get your kids enrolled in learn to swim lessons, and learn CPR.

In support of the Royal Life Saving Society, we participated in some media to highlight this important issue.

Channel 10 Late News

The Project TV  (section starts at 25:50 min)

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