After the drowning of 16 children, the emergency physicians of the AP-HM recall the simple rules to avoid these accidents which each year claim the lives of 500 French people.
Emergency pediatricians from Marseille public assistance hospitals (AP-HM) are sounding the alarm: most drowning victims could be avoided. Since the beginning of June, the pediatric emergencies of Timone have admitted 16 children due to drowning, three of whom have died. “Drowning is not a trivial event,” explains doctor Aurélie Boutin, pediatrician. The influx of water into the lungs causes oxygen deprivation, especially in the brain and heart, which can quickly lead to cardiac arrest and death if the patient is not rescued in time ”. Children who do well may also have neurological sequelae. At La Timone, a quarter of the small victims were taken care of in intensive care, the others had to be hospitalized.
Prevention is better than cure
Drownings are the accidents of everyday life that cause the most deaths in children under the age of fifteen, before suffocation, accidents by fire and falls. 15% of accidental drowning deaths also concern children under six. Most often involved: a lack of supervision.
For the AP-HM, these drownings could be avoided most of the time. Dr Violaine Bresson, pediatrician in the emergency room, recalls that “the beaches of Marseille welcome several thousand bathers every day, and lifeguards cannot supervise 200 children at the same time”. The first supervision must therefore remain that of the parents. An adult must be designated responsible for the children and not take their eyes off them. “In 30 seconds, everything can change: time to answer the phone, go to the bathroom or buy a drink,” says Dr. Sophie Pailhous.
In addition, a child who cannot swim should wear armbands, even under adult supervision. However, beware of buoys or floating toys which can easily turn over and prevent the child from coming back to the surface. These objects more dedicated to the game contribute to a false sense of security.
In Marseille, three quarters of children do not master swimming, while the national average is one in two children. In addition, 89% of accidents occur at the seaside, according to an epidemiological study carried out between 2000 and 2011; prevention is therefore particularly important in this coastal town.
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