Kids take a lesson from ducks

Heather Rawlyk

Monday, May 24, 2004 | 12:54 p.m.

When 2-year-old Lucia Gomes entered the Las Vegas Municipal Pool area at 2 p.m. Sunday, she was crying, terrified to go near the water.

By 3:30 p.m., however, the toddler's parents had to plead with her to get out of the pool and towel off.

"What a difference," her mother, Lisa Gomes, said. "It's exciting to see your child get used to the water and learn how to float in the case of an emergency in a pool, lake or wherever there's water."

The young Gomes joined more than 250 area children from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Las Vegas Municipal Pool, 431 E. Bonanza Road, to launch a new pool safety campaign called "Float Like A Duck."

The campaign, sponsored by the American Red Cross, Las Vegas Department of Leisure Services and Paragon Pools, kicks off during Pool Safety Month and one week before Memorial Day weekend -- a key time for children to learn swimming basics before hitting the water for the holiday weekend, event spokeswoman Mary Vail said.

Memorial Day, the unofficial start of the summer, has been said to kick off Southern Nevada's so-called "drowning season," which runs roughly from the Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day, according to the Clark County Health District.

"If there's a time to get children adapted to the water, it's now," Ashlee Dorzd, a 19-year-old lifeguard at the municipal pool, said. "Especially with the holiday weekend coming up and so many water events available in Las Vegas."

Children learned how to float by clapping and sang aloud, "Start on your back ... just relax with arms out to the side."

"Learning this song will help kids remember what to do in the water," Vail said. "It's an easy way for them to learn without feeling intimidated."

But the key to water safety is to always watch children near pools, Joe Vassallo, owner of Paragon Pools, said.

"Although teaching a child to float is an important step in water safety, it should be used as a secondary safety barrier," he said.

"There have been several incidents this year alone that could have been prevented by either adult supervision or water education for the children."

Since March there have been five drownings or near drownings in Clark County.

On April 6 a 6-year-old girl drowned in an apartment swimming pool at the Allegro at La Entrada apartment complex in Henderson, when her babysitter turned her back to talk to friends nearby.

A month earlier an 18-month-old girl nearly drowned after getting in a family whirlpool spa.

Only days later a 20-month-old boy drowned in an above-ground pool that had 2 feet of water in it. The following day, an 18-month-old nearly died in a backyard pool during a family get-together in northeast Las Vegas, but was revived.

And on March 12, a 1-year-old girl nearly drowned in a backyard pool in Las Vegas.

Vassallo pointed out that in most cases, the children are under 4 years of age.

"The majority of these accidents happen with children 4 and under," he said. "That's really the age group we're targeting today."

In 2003 the Clark County Health District reported 10 drownings and 32 near- drowning incidents. Of those incidents, only 19 percent of the victims were older than 4.

Brandi Kish, 30, of northwest Las Vegas, said the recent drowning incidents prompted her to bring her 3-year-old daughter, Madison, to Sunday's event.

"Whenever I saw those stories on the news, my heart just broke because that could have been my child," Kish said. "But I think parents can also learn from those stories. That's why we're here today."