Drownings

Severe weather and Wars all cause death. In the case of War, most deaths happen to members of the Military, unless you are a civilian in the war torn country. Weather related deaths usually happen after appropriate warnings. Yet it is also true that some Weather related deaths happen with no warning. All of this stated to point out yet another cause of far too many deaths in our United States of America. Yet we never hear much about these tragic deaths in the media. I will copy data from the CDC Web site concerning "Water-Related Injuries."

In 2003, there were 3,306 unintentional fatal drownings in the United States, averaging nine people per day. This figure does not include drownings in boating- related incidents (CDC 2005).

For every child 14 years and younger who dies from drowning, five receive emergency department care for nonfatal submersion injuries. More than half of these children require hospitalization (CDC 2005). Nonfatal drownings can cause brain damage that result in long-term disabilities ranging from memory problems and learning disabilities to the permanent loss of basic functioning (i.e., permanent vegetative state).

A CDC study about self-reported swimming ability (Gilchrist et al. 2000) found that:

Younger respondents reported greater swimming ability than older respondents;

Self-reported ability increased with level of education;

Among racial groups, African Americans reported the most limited swimming ability; and

Men of all ages, races, and educational levels consistently reported greater swimming ability than women.

Groups at Risk
Males: In 2003, males accounted for 80% of fatal drownings in the United States (CDC 2005).
Children: In 2003, 782 children ages 0 to 14 years died from drowning (CDC 2005). Although drowning rates have slowly declined (Branche 1999), drowning remains the second-leading cause of injury-related death for children ages 1 to 14 years (CDC 2005).
African Americans: Factors such as the environment (e.g., access to swimming pools) may contribute to the racial differences in drowning rates between African Americans and white Americans (Branche et al. 2004). During 2002–2003, the overall age-adjusted fatal drowning rate for African Americans was 1.25 times higher than for whites (CDC 2005). However, these rates vary by age. During this time, African-American infants under one year had a fatal drowning rate slightly higher than the drowning rate of white infants (CDC 2005). Most infants drown in bathtubs, toilets, or household buckets. Among children 1 to 4 years of age, African Americans had a lower fatal drowning rate than whites. Drownings in this age group typically happen in residential swimming pools. African-American children ages 5 to 19 years fatally drowned at 2.3 times the rate of white children in this age group during 2002–2003 (CDC 2005). As children get older, drownings often occur in open water areas such as ponds, lakes, and rivers. If African Americans participate less in water-related activities than whites, their drowning rates (per exposure) may be higher than currently reported (Branche et al. 2004).

So The Flower Child's question and concern today is: Where is the public outcry concerning these tragic deaths? Or are these deaths so common place (nine each day) that they do not rate media coverage? I guess drowning is a lot like being killed in an automobile wreck. None of the National News Media will cover these events, unless there is a great loss of life and it appears that no one keeps a running total of the drowning deaths or puts it on the Sunday Evening News!!!!