New innovative program is teaching metro Atlanta kids water safety

ATLANTA — Every year about 4,000 people die from drowning nationwide.

Officials warn that children can drown anywhere when they are not supervised. This includes pools, lakes, oceans and bathtubs.

Channel 2′s Linda Stouffer looked into a new program helping to keep students safe in the pool.

Six-year-old Davina didn’t want to go anywhere near a pool a few months ago.

“I was scared of the water,” she said.

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta partnered with the Morgan Oliver School to bring swim lessons to students at the East Lake YMCA.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

“Drowning is a leading cause of death, particularly among children in the 1-4 age group and it is preventable,” Parker Lincoln the director of Child Advocacy at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

Starting out, about 15% of the school’s students were comfortable in the water. After a few months of instruction, every child learned life-saving skills and some students picked up strokes to practice all summer.

“I think it’s a need in a lot of Black and brown communities where kids are afraid of the water reflecting their parents’ fear of the water,” Sandida Oliver Stone, Morgan Oliver School principal said.

TRENDING STORIES:

• Man dies after being shot in parking lot between Applebee’s, O’Reilly Auto Parts, police say
• Man walking home killed by motorcycle that went airborne after crash on busy Gwinnett road
• Georgia ticket wins $2 million in Powerball drawing, jackpot rises to $1 billion

The hospital said this community partnership is something other schools can do to recognize swimming. as an important life skill and prevent drownings.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

IN OTHER NEWS:

Family mourning after loved one is killed on busy road in Gwinnett County

©2023 Cox Media Group