Miami-Dade County officers not too long ago gathered at Marva Y. Bannerman Park to replace the general public on the primary yr of the Zero Drownings Miami-Dade Initiative, a program providing free swimming classes throughout the faculty day to 1000’s of preschool and kindergarten college students throughout the county.
County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, Miami-Dade Colleges Superintendent Dr. Jose Dotres, and others emphasised this system’s lifesaving mission.
“We’re surrounded by water. That’s our blessing and sadly for our younger youngsters, it’s a curse,” mentioned Mayor Levine Cava. “This initiative funds a long-term, large-scale water security web within the Parks Division, with a devoted workplace targeted on swim security.”
Regardless of a long time of selling water security, drowning stays the main reason for unintentional dying for youngsters ages 1 to 9 in South Florida, notably in city areas the place swimming classes are much less accessible. To fight this, the Zero Drownings Miami-Dade Initiative was launched in partnership with native organizations, offering 30-minute swimming classes throughout faculty hours at public swimming pools.
This system, backed by $1.8 million from The Youngsters’s Belief and contributions from the American Crimson Cross South Florida Area, The Miami Basis, United Method Miami, EDU Basis, and the Templeton Household Basis, serves four- and five-year-old college students from at-risk areas. It contains kindergarten college students and preschoolers from Head Begin and Youngsters’s Belief daycare facilities, with a ratio of 1 teacher for each six college students.
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“We stay in a phenomenal group surrounded by swimming pools, lakes, and the ocean, so it’s important for youngsters to study to swim and for folks to have peace of thoughts,” mentioned Dr. Dotres. To date, roughly 1,469 youngsters have benefited from the teachings.
Utilizing the Crimson Cross Study-to-Swim curriculum, licensed instructors train fundamentals comparable to floating, arm strokes, kicking, and respiratory strategies. The purpose is to assist youngsters really feel snug within the water and acquire expertise to remain protected in the event that they fall in or discover themselves in misery. Some college students even start swimming independently after finishing this system.
Dad and mom like Barbara Severent, whose daughter participated within the pilot, reward the initiative: “Now my daughter is barely 5 and he or she is aware of find out how to swim. After I go to the pool together with her, I fear much less.”
Research present formal swimming classes can cut back childhood drowning danger by 88 p.c. Households are inspired to proceed classes at native Miami-Dade swimming pools to assist youngsters and their siblings construct stronger swimming expertise.
The initiative additionally prioritizes particular wants college students, notably these with autism spectrum dysfunction (ASD), an vital focus given Superintendent Dotres’s private expertise with two college students misplaced to drowning whereas he was a principal.
Past classes, this system educates households on water security at residence and locally. Rebecca Charcon shared her son’s transformation: “He was afraid of water, however now we will’t hold him out of the pool.”
Miami-Dade County Public Colleges additionally continues its practically 50-year custom of providing Crimson Cross swim classes to Pre-Ok via 2nd grade utilizing moveable swimming pools rotated amongst colleges, complementing the brand new initiative.
Officers ended the press convention with swim security suggestions, together with assigning lifeguards, avoiding distractions, instructing youngsters water security, and eradicating pool toys when not in use.
Metropolis of Miami Commissioner Christine King vowed, “I’ll make certain this message reaches each constituent so we will obtain zero drownings.”
For extra info on swimming classes and security suggestions, go to this website.
