ESAFETYALERT.COM AND HARRIS INTERACTIVE POLL REVEALS THAT ONLY 19 PERCENT OF AMERICANS ARE AWARE THAT DROWNING IS THE LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH OF YOUNG CHILDREN
by Anonymous

LOS ANGELES — Only 19 percent of Americans are aware that drowning is the leading cause of accidental death among children under the age of five, according to a national poll released today by Harris Interactive and eSafetyAlert.com.

Still, 59 percent of American households with swimming pools have one or more "layers of protection" in addition to property fencing. Measures include: a permanent fence fully surrounding the pool with a self-closing gate, a removable fence fully surrounding the pool, a pool safety cover, a door or gate alarm, or a pool alarm.

"We are concerned that 41 percent of pool owners are either unaware of what they should be doing to protect children or they are simply not taking the threat seriously enough," said Todd Appleman, President and founder of eSafetyAlert, a safety products company that offers water safety education information and devices to help prevent drowning tragedies."

Citing figures released by the Centers for Disease Control and the Consumer Products Safety Commission, Appleman says between 350 and 400 children drown in swimming pools each year. Another 3,000 children are involved in near-drowning incidents. About 1,500 of these children suffer permanent brain damage.

"We commissioned the Harris poll with the hope of educating parents about the ever present danger a pool poses to a young child," said Appleman. "A serious accident takes only seconds to unfold. Many children drown within a few feet of their parents. The publicized tragedy at the Malibu home of Rock star Tommy Lee, where a young boy drowned during a birthday party attended by adults, repeats every year in all parts of the country. Drowning is a silent death. Once under water, a toddler is not easily noticed."

eSafetyAlert.com offers the Safety Turtle alarm, a one-of-a-kind system that alerts parents the instant a child falls into water. The easy-to-use alarm consists of an AC powered base station and one or more Turtle wristbands. The Turtle wristband is placed around the child's wrist and is securely locked with a key. Should the child fall into the water, a loud alarm sounds instantly and continues until the alarm is reset.

The Safety Turtle should be used only as a ‘last line of defense'. Young children must be closely supervised when in an area of potential danger," said Appleman. "A designated lifeguard is required when the pool is open for use. But reliance on just one measure will not take us where we want to go, which is fewer deaths in backyard pools."

Safety Turtle has been evaluated and recognized for effectiveness by Good Housekeeping, USA Today and PoolSearch. For more information, or to order the Safety Turtle pool alarm system, visit www.eSafetyAlert.com or call toll free 1-800-892-9551.





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