7-year-old boy is rescued from pool

[RAA]

June 2, 2007, 9:18PM
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Missouri City firefighters rescued a 7-year old boy from a private swimming pool about two miles from the Oyster Creek drowning Saturday.

Mike Youngblood, of the Missouri City Fire Department, said the boy was taken by Life Flight helicopter because the pool is a salt-water pool, which can be "harder" on children's lungs. The boy is in stable condition at Memorial Hermann.

This was on the paper yesterday. I hope the boy recovers fully. The comment about the salt water pool is kind of weird to me. I know the salt water could be very bad for the lungs (I think any type of water is bad for the lungs) but swimming pool salt levels also be as bad as the ocean for example? A drowning is a drowning regardless but i just wonder why they made that comment. Do we have any paramedics in the house? Is this something you ask a pool owners when you receive a call?

 

[JasonLion]

Hey, if I knew that saying something like that would get an injured child a ride on a Life Flight helicopter in an emergency I would say it, even if I knew it probably wasn't true.

 

[gonefishin]

glad to read that the boy is doing well!

Also, fresh water drowning differs from salt water drowning in terms of the mechanism for causing suffocation. Only a small amount of either kind of water is needed to damage the lungs and interfere with the body's ability to breathe. If fresh water is inhaled, it passes from the lungs to the bloodstream and destroys red blood cells. If salt water is inhaled, the salt causes fluid from the body to enter the lung tissue displacing the air.

Nature of inhaled fluid
- fresh water: water quickly absorbed into circulation. May cause haemolysis. Surfactant denatured
- chlorine and soap in fresh water does not appear to be of any adverse consequence for lungs
- sea water: hypertonic fluid promotes rapid fluxes of water and plasma proteins into alveoli and interstitium, dilutes or washes out surfactant and disrupts alveolar-capillary membrane
- both fresh and salt water produce an inflammatory reaction in alveolar-capillary membrane leading to an outpouring of plasma-rich fluid into alveoli. Inhaled gastric contents may contribute to this reaction
- fresh water results in a greater increase in alveolar surface tension than salt water near drowning
- fluid fluxes through lungs can lead to hyper/hypovolaemia. Latter is more common, even in fresh water drowning. Changes rarely sufficient to be life-threatening

dan

 

[TexasGirl]

Hey, if I knew that saying something like that would get an injured child a ride on a Life Flight helicopter in an emergency I would say it, even if I knew it probably wasn't true.

 

[Poolsean]

Dan,

Does the study for salt water indicate what the salinity level is? Most of the time, Salt water is refered to SEA water, 35,000 ppm...rather than 3,000 of a salt chlorine generator pool.

Interesting though.

I want a ride on the Life Flight helicopter too (but not as a customer)!!

Sean

 

[medvampire]

High salinity water such as sea water causes sodium inversion in the lungs. The osmotic pressure of sea water is marked less than that of pool water. When ocean water enters the lungs water is drawn from the tissues in to the alveoli and a person will die of fluid in the lungs. In a pool or any body of fresh water the water is drawn from the alveoli in to the blood stream causing hemolysis of the red cells. In each case if the person didn’t die if lack of oxygen to the body death may be caused by one of the two above factors as well as infection. As the salinity of the water nears 9000 ppm these factors are less of concern. Salt water pools would do less damage long term than unsalted pools and ocean water would do the greatest damage. This is some what academic due to damage caused by asphyxiation and infection would be even greater than the lung damage caused by the water itself. In my line of work I see about 8 to 10 drowning cases per year including children.
Steve

 

[RAA]

Salt water pools would do less damage long term than unsalted pools and ocean water would do the greatest damage. This is some what academic due to damage caused by asphyxiation and infection would be even greater than the lung damage caused by the water itself. In my line of work I see about 8 to 10 drowning cases per year including children.
Steve

It’s interesting indeed. Thanks medvampire and gonefishin for the detailed explanation. I just heard on the TV of another pool rescue of a 13 year old boy here in Houston and last week a 3 year old got into the neighbors pool trough a hole in the fence and drowned.

I think I will be looking into a mesh safety cover for my pool. I really don’t like the pool fences. I have an 8' fall fence all around the property with a safety latch and a lock. But even that seems ineffective.

The numbers of swimming pool/pond drownings are staggering.
From chron.com: Wandering boy drowns in pond; another in a pool

So far this year, 10 local children have been reported as drowning victims. The numbers, while grim, are lower than at this point in 2006, when 14 Houston area juveniles had drowned.
The total juvenile drowning figures for last year were 27, according to officials with Harris County Child Protective Services.

I think that a big reason why there are so many drownings is because some of these kids were left on their own unsupervised. What a shame..

 

[Poolsean]

IMHO, the best defense is to teach them to swim and supervision! I taught my kids by the old, initiation by fire. Throw them in, and they are either going to learn REALLY quick, or be spittin water for a bit.
Too many kids and too many bodies of water, be it a canal, lake, pond, pool, or whatever. If more communities would offer swim lessons. I know for a while in Florida, they were discussing to make it mandatory for all kids to go through basic swimming lessons.
If you can teach an infant, any one can learn. I think if we don't know how to swim, and as we get older, we increase our "fear" of drowning. A kid doesn't have that fear yet.

Or, if you were of the generator when JAWS came out, you naturally dont want to get in any bodies of water! da dum....da dum..... da dum, da dum...... dun dun dun dun dun dun......
how do you get audio on here??? :?:

 

[ktdave]

Ditto Poolsean. Teach to swim and vigilance!

I also happen to be of the JAWS generation. I remember being afraid of sharks even in our swimming pool if I was swimming at night! LOL Then there was that dang Piranha! movie. Us kids at that time didn't have a chance at peace of mind in a body of water.

 

[TexasGirl]

"IMHO, the best defense is to teach them to swim and supervision! I taught my kids by the old, initiation by fire. Throw them in, and they are either going to learn REALLY quick, or be spittin water for a bit"