Summertime brings families together to enjoy the beach while some inflatable kiddie pools provide a safe environment for kids to enjoy. However, with the rising number of child drownings, swimming pools may not be as safe as they seem.
Fortunately, advancements in technology can now help prevent such scary accidents.
According to WWLP, a brand-new innovation called WAVE Drowning Detection Systems is being tested in Springfield with the intention of saving lives.
There is more to it than what initially appears to be a simple headband. It serves as a drowning prevention alert system.
"So it’s a system that measures how long each swimmer is underwater," says Mark Caron, WAVE Founder. "My co-founder and I both had incidents in our hometowns where there were drownings at a city park. We are both technology guys, and we were shocked that technology has not been applied to reducing drownings."
For children under the age of five and for those between the ages of one and 14, drowning ranks first and second in terms of accidental injury-related deaths.
The Springfield Boys and Girls Club recently added the "WAVE" to its pool area because drownings have increased by 65% nationwide with only five days until the start of summer, according to the organisation.
An alarm sounds on a lifeguard's bracelet after a WAVE headband has been submerged in water for 20 seconds. After another ten seconds, a loud noise will be heard, alerting everyone to the emergency in the pool area. If a lifeguard enters the water to respond to an emergency, it will also notify staff.
According to Vincent Borello, executive director of the Springfield Boys & Girls Club, anything can happen whenever children are near water. He claims that by taking this measure, they are adding an additional degree of security.
He said: "We want kids to have fun and their parents to have less worry about them getting hurt."
Often times a drowning incident occurs due to several reasons including not being able to swim and a lack of close supervision, which is an issue that the new WAVE technology addresses.
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