{"id":13853,"date":"2025-06-30T11:31:29","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T15:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/?page_id=13853"},"modified":"2025-06-30T11:31:29","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T15:31:29","slug":"blue-ridge-health-district-shares-drowning-prevention-tips","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-regional-news-releases\/blue-ridge-health-district-shares-drowning-prevention-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Ridge Health District Shares Drowning Prevention Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>June 30, 2025<br \/>\n<strong>Media Contact:<\/strong> Brookie Crawford, <a href=\"mailto:brookie.crawford@vdh.virginia.gov\">brookie.crawford@vdh.virginia.gov<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Blue Ridge Health District Shares Drowning Prevention Tips<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Celebrate the Fourth of July Safely<\/em><\/p>\n<p>CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. \u2013In Virginia, nearly 500 people have accidentally drowned over the last five years. In fact, drowning is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/drowning\/data-research\/facts\/index.html\">leading cause of death<\/a> in children. Whether you are celebrating the holiday weekend at the pool, the beach, the river or the lake, the Blue Ridge Health Department offers drowning prevention tips to keep you healthy and safe while swimming.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to emphasize the serious issue of drowning. It is a leading cause of unintentional injury and death &#8211; especially among children &#8211; and can happen in an instant,\u201d said Director for the Blue Ridge Health District Ryan McKay. \u201cI urge everyone to take preventive measures: always supervise children around water, enroll them in swim lessons, and use life jackets. Secure home pools with barriers, teach children about water safety, and ensure you\u2019re prepared with safety equipment and CPR training. By working together, we can create a safer community and prevent drowning tragedies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Drowning often occurs quickly and silently. Unlike the movies, drowning doesn\u2019t usually involve thrashing and shouting. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/environmental-health-services\/swim-healthy\/draft-drowning-prevention\/\">signs of drowning<\/a> are more subtle and last only 20-60 seconds before the person goes under the water.<\/p>\n<p>Blue Ridge Health Department offers these preventions tips:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Provide <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/environmental-health-services\/swim-healthy\/adult-supervision\/\">active supervision<\/a> for all children in the water. A responsible adult should watch children closely when they are in or around water. Adults should not be distracted or engaged in other activities, even if lifeguards are present. For preschool-aged children, \u201ctouch supervision\u201d is recommended, where the supervising adult is within arm\u2019s reach of the child.<\/li>\n<li>Learn to swim. Knowing how to swim can reduce the risk of drowning.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/environmental-health-services\/swim-healthy\/learn-lifesaving-skills\/\">Learn CPR<\/a>. Make sure we know what to do if someone needs help in the water.<\/li>\n<li>Always swim with a buddy. Never swim alone.<\/li>\n<li>Avoid swimming after dark. Signs of drowning are harder to see.<\/li>\n<li>Watch for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/environmental-health-services\/swim-healthy\/open-water-and-beach-safety\/\">swimming hazards<\/a> like rip currents and rough waters.<\/li>\n<li>Observe any advisories and listen to lifeguards.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cFloaties,\u201d arm bands, water wings are toys, <strong><u>not<\/u><\/strong> safety devices. When these toys are in use, the caregiver must still provide active supervision. Wear U.S. Coast Guard-approved <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/environmental-health-services\/swim-healthy\/life-jackets-and-floaties\/\">life jackets<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Make sure pools have the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/environmental-health-services\/swim-healthy\/pool-safety-features\/\">proper safety features<\/a> in place to help reduce the risk of injury.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Stay vigilant this summer. Let&#8217;s make our pools and beaches safer for everyone! Visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.swimhealthyva.com\/\">swimhealthyva.com<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"># # #<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>June 30, 2025 Media Contact: Brookie Crawford, brookie.crawford@vdh.virginia.gov Blue Ridge Health District Shares Drowning Prevention Tips Celebrate the Fourth of July Safely CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. \u2013In Virginia, nearly 500 people have accidentally drowned over the last five years. In fact, drowning is a leading cause of death in children. Whether you are celebrating the holiday weekend [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":444,"featured_media":0,"parent":12292,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[1042,1031,967,1032],"class_list":["post-13853","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","tag-accidental-death","tag-drowning","tag-pool-safety","tag-water-safety"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Blue Ridge Health District Shares Drowning Prevention Tips - Newsroom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-regional-news-releases\/blue-ridge-health-district-shares-drowning-prevention-tips\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Blue Ridge Health District Shares Drowning Prevention Tips - Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"June 30, 2025 Media Contact: Brookie Crawford, brookie.crawford@vdh.virginia.gov Blue Ridge Health District Shares Drowning Prevention Tips Celebrate the Fourth of July Safely CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. \u2013In Virginia, nearly 500 people have accidentally drowned over the last five years. In fact, drowning is a leading cause of death in children. Whether you are celebrating the holiday weekend [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-regional-news-releases\/blue-ridge-health-district-shares-drowning-prevention-tips\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/archived-news-releases\\\/2025-regional-news-releases\\\/blue-ridge-health-district-shares-drowning-prevention-tips\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/archived-news-releases\\\/2025-regional-news-releases\\\/blue-ridge-health-district-shares-drowning-prevention-tips\\\/\",\"name\":\"Blue Ridge Health District Shares Drowning Prevention Tips - Newsroom\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-30T15:31:29+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/archived-news-releases\\\/2025-regional-news-releases\\\/blue-ridge-health-district-shares-drowning-prevention-tips\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/archived-news-releases\\\/2025-regional-news-releases\\\/blue-ridge-health-district-shares-drowning-prevention-tips\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/archived-news-releases\\\/2025-regional-news-releases\\\/blue-ridge-health-district-shares-drowning-prevention-tips\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Newsroom\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Archived News Releases\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/archived-news-releases\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"2025 Regional News Releases\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/archived-news-releases\\\/2025-regional-news-releases\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":5,\"name\":\"Blue Ridge Health District Shares Drowning Prevention Tips\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Newsroom\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Blue Ridge Health District Shares Drowning Prevention Tips - Newsroom","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-regional-news-releases\/blue-ridge-health-district-shares-drowning-prevention-tips\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Blue Ridge Health District Shares Drowning Prevention Tips - Newsroom","og_description":"June 30, 2025 Media Contact: Brookie Crawford, brookie.crawford@vdh.virginia.gov Blue Ridge Health District Shares Drowning Prevention Tips Celebrate the Fourth of July Safely CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. \u2013In Virginia, nearly 500 people have accidentally drowned over the last five years. In fact, drowning is a leading cause of death in children. Whether you are celebrating the holiday weekend [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-regional-news-releases\/blue-ridge-health-district-shares-drowning-prevention-tips\/","og_site_name":"Newsroom","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-regional-news-releases\/blue-ridge-health-district-shares-drowning-prevention-tips\/","url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-regional-news-releases\/blue-ridge-health-district-shares-drowning-prevention-tips\/","name":"Blue Ridge Health District Shares Drowning Prevention Tips - Newsroom","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-06-30T15:31:29+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-regional-news-releases\/blue-ridge-health-district-shares-drowning-prevention-tips\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-regional-news-releases\/blue-ridge-health-district-shares-drowning-prevention-tips\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-regional-news-releases\/blue-ridge-health-district-shares-drowning-prevention-tips\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Newsroom","item":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Archived News Releases","item":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"2025 Regional News Releases","item":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-regional-news-releases\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"name":"Blue Ridge Health District Shares Drowning Prevention Tips"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/","name":"Newsroom","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/444"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13853"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13854,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13853\/revisions\/13854"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}