With every kick and stroke another child feels more confident in the water at Delray Beach’s Pompey Park.
Feeling confident is important because Florida is consistently one of the worst states in the country for child drownings.
Drownings kills more children under the age of five than anything else in the state. Paramedics said responding to a drowning is unlike any other emergency.
“I stepped out of the truck and a lady was carrying a baby out of the building,” said Captain Kevin Saxton, describing a drowning call from 2009.
He said three toddlers fell into a Delray Beach pool. His unit was the first to arrive at the scene. He said he’ll never forget the tense moments as he and other medics worked to save each child's life.
“It plays over in my mind every now and then like a video because it is such a sad and emotional kind of thing to see children suffering like that,” Saxton said, pointing out all three of those toddlers survived.
Friday Saxton watched over about 100 kids learning to swim. The city’s fire department, police department, and Parks and Recreation department organized the group swim lesson.
The aquatics operations supervisor said the departments decided to help children get an interest in swimming after two boys drowned in April 2014.
“When these kids go fishing, canoeing, jet skiing, on vacation snorkeling, they know something on how to handle themselves in the water,” said Gerard Smith, the aquatic operations supervisor.
In 2014, 43 people died by drowning in Palm Beach County. June is historically the county's deadliest month for drownings.
The world's largest swim lesson in Delray Beach sharing drowning prevention message. @WPTV pic.twitter.com/FyHw9wGclI
— Charlie Keegan (@CKeeganWPTV) June 24, 2016