{"id":14443,"date":"2025-07-17T10:00:06","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T14:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/?page_id=14443"},"modified":"2025-07-17T10:50:51","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T14:50:51","slug":"virginia-department-of-health-families-to-take-the-pool-safely-pledge","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-news-releases\/virginia-department-of-health-families-to-take-the-pool-safely-pledge\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia Department of Health Encourages Families to Take the Pool Safely Pledge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE \u2013 <\/strong>July 17, 2025<br \/>\n<strong>Media Contact:\u00a0 <\/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>Virginia Department of Health Encourages <\/strong><strong>Families to Take the Pool Safely Pledge<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Commonwealth Continues to See an Increase in Small Children Drownings in Pools<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>RICHMOND, Va.<\/strong> \u2013 The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) is urging parents and caregivers to take the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.poolsafely.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Adult-Pledge-Card.pdf\">Pool Safely Pledge<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.poolsafely.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/352A-spanish.pdf\">en Espa\u00f1ol<\/a>) as the Commonwealth continues to see a concerning rise in accidental drownings among children under the age of five in swimming pools.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.poolsafely.gov\/\">Pool Safely<\/a> is a national public education campaign led by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to help prevent child drownings and entrapments in pools and spas.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"2025 Pool Safety Tips\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sivY2jMybAI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The pledge \u2013 available for both adults and children \u2013 takes less than a minute and reinforces simple, life-saving safety practices.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.poolsafely.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Adult-Pledge-Card.pdf\">adult pledge<\/a> includes commitment to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Designate a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.safekids.org\/other-resource\/water-watcher-card\">water watcher<\/a> every single time children in their care are in or near the water.<\/li>\n<li>Make sure their kids know how to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.redcross.org\/take-a-class\/swimming\">swim<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Learn <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/environmental-health-services\/swim-healthy\/learn-lifesaving-skills\/\">CPR<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Always remove portable pool ladders when not in use.<\/li>\n<li>Ensure all permanent pools have a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/environmental-health-services\/swim-healthy\/pool-safety-features\/\">proper fence and gate and anti-entrapment drain covers<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.poolsafely.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Kids-Pledge-Card.pdf\">children&#8217;s pledge<\/a> includes reminders to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Never swim alone.<\/li>\n<li>Ask their parents to sign them up for swimming lessons.<\/li>\n<li>Stay away from drains in the pool or hot tub.<\/li>\n<li>Have fun and always follow these safety steps in and around the water.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>To date, eight children under age five have accidentally drowned in Virginia pools in 2025, an increase from the last three years (three in 2024, two in 2023, and four in 2022.)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe tragic rise in drowning deaths of young children demands that we all become extra vigilant about pool safety,\u201d said <strong>VDH Chief Deputy Commissioner for Community Health Services Susan Fischer Davis, MD<\/strong>. \u201cHave fun at the pool \u2013 but always be alert to risks, especially with young children.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Drowning is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/drowning\/data-research\/facts\/index.html\">leading cause of death among children<\/a> ages one to four. From 2022 through 2024, an estimated average of 6,300 children under age 15 years were treated annually in U.S. emergency departments (EDs) for nonfatal drowning-related injuries. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cpsc.gov\/s3fs-public\/Pool-or-Spa-Submersion-Estimated-Nonfatal-Drowning-Injuries-and-Reported-Drownings-2025-Report.pdf\">Seventy-three percent<\/a> of those children were under age five.<\/p>\n<p>In Virginia, on average, one person drowns every four days. Drownings happen <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/environmental-health-services\/swim-healthy\/draft-drowning-prevention\/\">quickly \u2013 often silently<\/a>. Take action now. Take the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.poolsafely.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Adult-Pledge-Card.pdf\">Pool Safely Pledge<\/a> today and commit to protecting your family this summer.<\/p>\n<p>Visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.swimhealthyva.com\/\">swimhealthyva.com<\/a> for more information. Swim safe. Stay safe!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"># # #<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE \u2013 July 17, 2025 Media Contact:\u00a0 Brookie Crawford, brookie.crawford@vdh.virginia.gov Virginia Department of Health Encourages Families to Take the Pool Safely Pledge Commonwealth Continues to See an Increase in Small Children Drownings in Pools RICHMOND, Va. \u2013 The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) is urging parents and caregivers to take the Pool Safely [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":444,"featured_media":0,"parent":12290,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[1058,967,327],"class_list":["post-14443","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","tag-drowning-prevention","tag-pool-safety","tag-swimming"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Virginia Department of Health Encourages Families to Take the Pool Safely Pledge - 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