Mother and Drowning Prevention Advocate Parents Preventing Childhood Drownings Read Jenny's story and listen to today's podcast as she talks more about her story and what she has begun, a mission to create change. She's on a mission so that other parents do not have to know her pain and what she didn't know that exists around water.
There is a common theme as I talk with other parents that understand what I understand is we thought we did everything right.
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Listen to our show and read her story below
"Hi, my name is Jenny Bennett. I am a mother of 4 children and a full-time emergency room nurse. I am currently helping in the trauma department to help my hospital become a Level 3 Trauma Center. I have been a nurse for nearly 12 years, 9 of which in the emergency room. I am also an ENPC instructor and teach other nurses about emergency pediatric care.
Two summers ago, I lost my son Jackson to an accidental drowning in our backyard pool. He was 18 months old. A simple miscommunication of my son’s whereabouts plus a curious toddler led to him finding our backyard pool unprotected. I’m not sure if he jumped in or fell in, but he loved swimming so
my guess is that he just wanted to have some fun. I thought I was one of those super safe mother’s and that this type of thing would never happen to me. Yes, I knew drowning was a risk, but I figured if my son couldn’t get out our back door, then he would be okay. We were comfortable in our home, which
we also made very safe for our son. Strange thing is, no one ever mentioned anything to me about childhood drowning prevention, not even my pediatrician.
I spent two years thinking about what I did wrong and things I should have done differently, ashamed of the mistakes I had made. But now, I want to focus on what we can do better. I had no idea drowning was the leading cause of accidental death for children aged 1-4. I’ve learned so much these past few
years and I have determined that our entire culture around childhood swimming needs to change.
Children need to be taught how to be safe in the water. Layers of protection need to surround the pool to protect your little one.
After I lost Jackson, I had another son. His name is Asher and he is now 18 months old. Putting my son through ISR swim lessons this last summer opened my eyes to all the mistakes I made with Jackson.
Mistakes that I didn’t even know would be detrimental, such as parent-child swimming lessons and puddle jumper floatation devices. Now, I want to make sure others know this information before it is too late for them and their child.
This summer, I began a small campaign for my hospital for drowning prevention. It started with a pamphlet. Then I spoke at the Chamber of Commerce, then volunteered at a community event and then a baby fair. Now, I am attempting to get all the Gulf Coast area HCA hospitals (21) together to
share this drowning prevention/ injury prevention initiative within their own hospitals.
But I want to do more, which brings me to PPCD. Parents Preventing Childhood Drowning was created by several non-profits and individuals like myself who are dedicated in preventing childhood drownings. We formed in August of this year over a Skype phone call. We all have similar beliefs when it comes to protecting children from drowning. We want other organizations to come together for this cause, not compete with one another, we all have the same goals. We also want to include people who do not belong to an existing organization; a mother who lost her child to drowning who wants to join the fight, an ISR instructor who has dedicated his life to saving children from drowning, a family who had a near drowning experience with their son and are so thankful h...
