Zero Drownings - Our Journey for Hannah: 2016

Thursday, April 14, 2016

William’s Law: A deterrent for preventable deaths

William Corben, his face is a reminder on why Pool gates must never be propped opened

Propped opened pool gates, a sliding door breached via the removal of a bracket and a lack of supervision contributed to the death of William Corben.   Coroner John Lock ruled that the owners of the home should be referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions for further review for failing to supervise a child under 12.   It comes as 13 other children in Queensland since July 1 2012 lost their lives due to intentional pool fence breaches. Swimming pool laws were amended after the death of Hannah Plint in 2007.

In 2008 Coroner Kaye Ryan ruled an illegally built deck between the house verandah and the pool fence contributed to her death. A deliberate breach to the building code by an owner builder. The house was then sold to the Plints with approvals from Council and a Private certifier. How could pool safety have gone so horribly wrong? The Plints fought for change so others wouldn’t endure their pain. The Corben’s, Mrs Kelly Taylor, the Tognola’s are all families fighting to save your kids around Pool and Water safety.      Yet, the trolls in their uneducated views find it easier to simply blame mum. The targeting of mothers via social media, emails and even snail mail is a gross injustice that contributes to further heartache.

Since the overhaul in 2009 and 2010 under BOLA 1 and 2, deaths in Qld have dramatically reduced for toddlers under five years of age.   Compulsory certification has contributed to a reduction in deaths from 15 children on average to currently four in the previous year (2015). The last domestic pool death for a toddler under five was in March of 2015. This death was investigated at the same as William Corben.

The fight for pool safety isn’t about children being taught to swim. We advocate the teaching of survival skills. We know as parents that more often than not swimming won’t save them and it hasn’t saved many.

Out of the 13 children killed by propped opened gates since 1^st July 2012, 11 of those children had been enrolled in swimming lessons at some point in their short lives. Of those 11, two children were suffering horrible medical conditions and had to be pulled out of the pool. Epilepsy and Chronic Eczema. William Corben had suffered bouts of chronic eczema so severe his mother Hayley states he would scratch in his sleep causing it to bleed and have the skin peel away. It was so painful to even walk in the crevices of his limbs. Swimming lessons were important to the Corben’s however they had strict rules that William was never in a body of water without either parent, and Hayley Corben stated to their new neighbours that William was to be supervised at all times by her. On one occasion another neighbour took Will for a swim and was in the water with him. On the day he died not one adult was in the water with him and the rules strictly spoken rules were broken. William died because in my opinion, no one cared about his safety.   The coroner stated the Pool owners were ‘cavalier’ in their approach.
I hear many in social media say “my kids can swim”, “teach your kids to swim” and then they throw the Kids Alive in the faces of parents such as the Corben’s after such a loss. At the time of William’s death swim schools were linking articles to William and promoting enrolments.   It was excruciating to watch a family be used, abused and horribly dealt such an injustice. Not one swim school supported the Corbens in their loss, instead they added only heartache along with social media trolls.

Legislation exists for one reason. To save lives.   The current consequences in the Criminal Code, whilst they exist, aren’t specific and to date have never been enforced to charge a person directly responsible for the death of a child under these circumstances.    I recall the charge code and also that of Negligence causing death in Hannah’s case. For six weeks I sat on the mere fact and I truly believed I was going to Jail.   Social media judges wanted me in jail and some wanted me dead, whipped to a pulp and two wanted my head under water also. The investigation for any parent is horrific.

William’s Law is not about making parents or pool owners go to jail. It’s a deterrent so kids won’t die.   There is no current consequence for relaxed, ignorance of the current strict standards in Queensland that surround pool legislation.   Fines apply for breaches and prosecution via councils exist for those pool owners who refuse to fix their pools.   However if you prop open a gate or remove the gate or intentionally make access to the pool and a child drowns and then dies YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE because drowning is preventable.   Rarely do kids climb gates or fences and drown. Seriously, the statistics tell us this.    Able bodied children with the upper body strength to pull 25kg weight over a fence are less likely to drown, they make too much noise and many are found.    Girls are more able to breach a pool fence with objects, boys destruct and go through broken panels. After 94 sitting inquests I’ve read the briefs and findings of too many drownings, the stats speak loudly.   Such a shame the facts aren’t reported correctly.

William’s Law will deter a pool owner in the future.   A campaign with William’s face and the words of parents will amount to lives being saved.    If a law specifically for Pool owners relating to the legislation and its compliance to pool fences is in place, pool owners (tenants if rented) will be second guessing their actions when it comes to safety.

Of the 13 children who died in Qld, 12 of those children were visitors to properties that were either rented or owned. In one case Coroner Clements disgustingly accepted brief from QPS and found on review (not an open inquest) that a child had propped opened the gate. This was an appalling injustice to the death of the little girl who was only in the house for 15 mins before she was found face down. The tenants of the house continued, even after the death, to prop the pool gate open.   They had not changed their ways. Instead it was just easier to blame the mother. Supervision is paramount but so too are barriers.
Supervision breaks down daily in any household.   Pool or no pool.   Barriers to dangers in the home prevent deaths and bide parents time. Every time I see a child picture posted on social media covered in pen and comments laughing at it I have to ask “where was the supervisor?. The usual comments from the supervising carer vary and many are the same as my own such as changing a nappy, in the loo, feeding another child the list goes on. There is no difference between a lapse in supervision when a child covers itself in biro or grabs the tv and pulls it down on themselves or the jug in the kitchen or drowning in a pool. The contributory fact here is BREAKDOWN IN SUPERVISION and a barrier breakdown at the same time. Childhood dangers exist in every home. The facts are kids die every day in the home. Most, if not all, are preventable. Yet the parents who lost their child to drowning are the ones targeted on a daily basis. Stigma is real. Stigma is cruel. Stigma hurts the grieving.
William’s Law promotes active supervision in and around water and tells William’s story. If Hayley and Rob Corben have to endure the heartache of losing their son they won’t sit silent and let it slide. Nor should they. They want children saved. They want to prevent other parents from falling helplessly into despair and grieving the loss of their child. They had a life of dreams for both their sons William and Tom. Those dreams were shattered by the very action of a pool owner who was relaxed in pool safety.   WHY?

William’s Law is a deterrent.   It will hopefully prevent pool deaths via propped open pool gates. It will aid in stopping childhood drowning with toddlers and help keep the statistics to zero. Toddlers matter. They are our future. William was the future of the Corbens.   His legacy lives on via William’s Law. It is all they have along with four years of memories. The coroner believes a deterrent is needed. He too has seen and heard too many deaths in his court room. If Coroner John Lock stepped up to the plate to bat for kids, it’s time for the community and the government to do so too.   William’s Law must exist for the safety and the lives of young children.

It’s time to STOP children drowning in backyard pools by making people accountable for their actions and hopefully educating them against making the biggest mistake of their life. Propping open their gate.

If you currently practise the act of propping open your pool gate even for a moment, RETHINK IT.    William’s face should remind you to shut and keep the gate shut. Drowning can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere.    It’s totally preventable.

Coroner John Lock: Findings on William Corben

Facebook page: William's Law

Katherine Plint

Saturday, January 9, 2016

The dangers of uneducated advocacy

Comment response to Terry Gulliver - Swim Coach and Gold Coast Bulletin Article 10th January 2016. GCB Article

Advocacy - For the past near nine years this has been my life. It is very personal.   To advocate, educate and prevent drownings through public education and community support services, Coronial research, lobbying legislation changes to represent the Coronial recommendations from inquests, submission writings and authoring water safety campaigns.   For what?   To save lives.

So often I hear 'others' sprout their messages and their opinions but to what detriment of the very cause?

The Keep Watch Royal Life Saving Program is one that we follow and Hannah's Foundation states:
Check the environment for potential dangers then:

1. Supervision that is active
2. Barriers (both pool fences and barriers on the water Life Jackets)
3. Water survival skills
4. Emergency Procedures (CPR)

Hearing comments such as "parents are negligent for not putting kids into swim lesson and would rather buy slabs of beer" or "lazy parents are killing their children (this was said to my face)" or "parents don't have swimming as a priority" are all too common. More often than not I hear the latter.   The community has such a astigmatic opinion towards families of drowning victims.   Terry has further stigmatised parents today.

Charity - the work of charity is to give to others without receiving.   I wonder how many of those in the industry are charitable of time, lessons and the costs to reduce drowning statistics? Even just a Parent help class? I rarely see such. In fact Hannah's Foundation has NOT ONE swim school as a donor to help our work?   Why? Because they don't support our work because of our beliefs in SURVIVAL SWIMMING SKILLS.

I've written many blog posts on Supervision and I will continue to write about Supervision because CORONERS in five states have all stated in their inquest findings of toddler drowning (under five) that Supervision and Barriers saves lives. I am yet to see the programs, swim schools or a swim instructor on the Witness stand in a Coronial inquest being challenged on the event of the death.   Whilst many of the statistics you see on our blog are our Statistics they are very personal.   Speaking to families you can break down further the Government recorded stats and I can go further to even record where children were taught to swim.

Terry Gulliver stated "parents were negligent and complacent".  Considering all pool deaths in QLD have been encountered at a pool owners property with a visiting child and physical breaches to pool fencing was in place by the action of the pool owner is negligence.    Leaving a child in water without Supervision is negligence.  I advocate for criminal charges to be appropriated to events where a child has died or is injured when an act by a person contributes to a breach in safety.    Propping open a pool fence is dangerous.

According to the public I was negligent. I had Hannah taught to swim, we supervised her in the pool, we had a pool fence that locked and the front veranda was enclosed so she couldn't get out on the to road from our small farm. The house was our safety area but I was wrong.    It all failed.   BUT, Hannah wasn't left in a body of water to swim alone. She was on the veranda playing with our dog whilst I changed a nappy.    The rest is repetitive. Hannah drowned, Hannah could swim, she died from a heart attack from hitting cold water naked.   The End.    This summer non fatal drowning specifically on the Gold Coast have occurred when kids were in the pool, and were known to be in the water.   So what goes wrong?

One story of Lilly, aged 7 was at a pool party and was in the pool with other children. Her mother in media articles stated she could swim and she thought that other adults around the pool could supervise. More often than not many parents believe that because their child is a good swimmer they aren't at risk.   Maybe more education should be provided by swim schools to reinforce this message?    There are countless stories of adults sitting by the pool watching but in truth they had NO IDEA their child was drowning. Adults don't know what drowning looks like.

A child presented to Gold Coast Hospital for coughing up water after an immersion whilst swimming is well all too common. When you are in water you risk drowning.   I've spoken to many parents and young children who have experienced a non fatal water immersion event. Some say that they simply forget to swim, that their legs got tired, they swam to the deep end of the pool and couldn't touch the bottom. All similar stories.    What saved these children was the supervision by the pool and the CPR. Their swim skills failed for whatever reason. Just because you can swim doesn't mean you can't drown.

As I talk to children about their event I have a common question to them.   The answers are staggering.    "Why didn't you just roll over and Float?" Many say they didn't know they could do that in the event of drowning, some say "I can't float on my back" or they don't like floating.   The skills taught to the kids who can swim and who do and have drowned simply didn't work.    Swimmers must be equipped with the knowledge and the skills to survive in the water. The teaching pool and home pool are two different environments and more often, the swim school pool has ledges and home doesn't.

I am yet to attend a Coronial inquest where a coroner has stated SWIMMING WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE, if they were to do so and a victim could swim its contradictory.

Parents MUST understand that drowning can happen to their children and to them too in the water. Water kills.   The so called complacency by many is that 'my kids can swim they can't drown'.    This is the complacency that requires education.   I wonder how many of the children who have presented to the Gold Coast hospital are in fact in swim lessons as we speak?    I'd like someone to answer this question because its important and its in the public interest to know this statistic?

As for coaches like Terry Gulliver. Why are you so bloody callous and critical of the events of what has happened when you were not there?    Immersions have been happening for years. A simple fall, gob full of water because kids were mucking around and yes the kids who need CPR. The supervision and quick response is what has saved these children from a fatality. Thank goodness adults were there and these kids were saved. Its all about SUPERVISION.   After all it only takes 20 seconds to drown.     What we cannot record is whether these children were 'actually' dead or whether they had just passed out and not inhaled water (to mean they didn't actually drowned) or if they simply held their breathe too long and passed out (SHALLOW WATER BLACKOUT) and then drowned to be revived. There are so many scenarios to a drowning but no one will ever know the real 'medical' risks.   The saying 'a drowning, is a drowning is a drowning' is a good start.

First Aid responders can't answer these questions unless they are doctors but the Gold Coast hospital records IMMERSIONS for any patient that presents with a cause of concern or is admitted via an ambulance emergency call because it is now the law to report them.     The Foundation promotes drowning and its prevention. If you have been in water, had an incident of swallowing too much water or inhaled it the better part of caution and prevention is HOSPITAL.

So Terry Gulliver, this comment about buying slabs of beer?   Lets go with this shall we? How do you know that this is the mentality of Gold Goast parents?   Did you research a local tavern or drive thru bottle O to ascertain such truth? I doubt it.

To the next quote of 20% of students can't swim, where does this come from and if you know it exists what are you doing to lower it?

20 out of 100 children in school you state can't swim.    WHY? Have you even researched these so 20 children to find out why?    Research aids in education and provides a valuable tool to help lower the number. What have you done with it?    All I've read is critical opinions of what you think Parents reasons and actions, or lack there of are.   How bloody rude of you as an apparent expert.     Did you ever consider that out of the 20% of children you say can't swim had a reason or circumstance that prevented such skills from being taught?

Let me give you some reasons I hear as an advocate.  I am also a Registered Swim Teacher for the record and teach kids for FREE as a volunteer through our charity for those who have lost loved ones, although I don't see many swim schools giving up free time.

20 kids out of 100.  I ask of you, how many out of this 20 had an incident as a younger child in water?   Are they scared?   Are their parents scared of water due to the incident?    The industry doesn't support many who are complex in their fears to water after a drowning.   (Read my blog posts here: My reality    and here A non fatal drowning)

How many of these children come from families with parental disability?   The disability can range from legal blindness, deafness, paralysis etc. Whilst many can function with such, others have been unable to as parents to obtain the practicality of attending swimming lessons. I've met parents who are legally blind, deaf and paralysed who have lost kids to drowning.    Two of these parents couldn't rescue their children.   Could you imagine being so helpless in such an event?

Culturally diverse background children struggle with swimming too, what are you doing Terry to help combat this issue?    Do you have some spare time for a group of women to teach to their young girls in a closed space and private?
How many of those 20 children are kids at risk in foster care? The priority of swimming lessons isn't one of the Dept of Child Safety and as a former carer our foster child has massive issues with water and was risky around it. I for one placed our Foster Child in swimming as soon as possible but the Dept never paid for it and it was a 'an extra curricular activity' not funded.    Foster carers do their best and with everything else going on in an 'at risk' Childs life swimming probably isn't the major priority.    I ask you to volunteer time to foster children and their needs Terry to teach them safety skills.

What about the children in that 20 with medical conditions?   Epilepsy, Ear infections, prematurity development, compromised immune systems, eczema, remission for cancer, the list can go on for why kids haven't been in lessons and how dare you as an Industry representative persecute these parents for not doing so.   ASK THE QUESTIONS and you will find validated, genuine reasons.

How many out of that 20 have drunken, irresponsible parents who buy beer as opposed to providing lessons?   I'd stab at NONE and if there was such neglect they'd be in the foster care group. Out of that 20 or so who can't swim, guess what?   They aren't dead or injured by drowning because Supervision has been in place or they haven't been in a high risk situation around water.    Just because a child at prep/Grade 1 can't swim isn't a crime and its not cause for parental condemnation.   Just be thankful they are getting the skills and by the time they are teens will know and understand the dangers.

Every child should be vaccinated but they aren't. Not every child swims.   Whilst it helps to reduce the statistics more often than not its the swimming kids who love the water who drown and not the ones who hate it.

The community has an issue with drowning.   Its a judgemental death and injury that comes firing hard at poor mum.    Over the last three years all fatal deaths in QLD have occurred because kids have been left in pools unattended by adults other than the parents and the pool gates propped open.

Supervision saves lives. Supervision of swimmers in the water. Supervision of children around water and outside the barrier pool fence.

I am offended that the pool laws that so many parents fought to have enforced are stated as being the contributory factor in parental laziness.    20 years ago QLD had the highest drowning fatal on record.    It has only been since the new laws passed in 2010 that ALL IMMERSIONS were being recorded.   Prior to that who knows what the IMMERSION event statistics were. What concerns me is that hospitals are stating statistics but they are unable to break down those admissions to the where, how, what and how the event occurred.   Maybe every event should be investigated by police and those investigative results published so the real truth can be told?

Having read the comments online regarding this article I doubt the swimming industry was assisted in the cause because so many are disgruntled customers out there.

May I suggest Swim schools offer the public:

1. If you have students who pay for lessons open your pool up for PRACTISE sessions with parents at no cost.    Explain and show parents water safety in the pool.

2. Open your schools up to the disadvantaged in the community. Contact community groups there is bounds of kids just waiting to learn who need an opportunity and its not because Parents don't care.

3.   Work with us on the issues of preventing drowning and support our advocacy of public education.

4. Stop criticising the parents who are doing the best they can with what they have and provide support to those who have lost children to drowning and to those who are rehabilitating children with injuries caused by drowning.   Parents WONT go public because of such criticisms and stigma.   Open your hearts up.

Terry Gulliver has a lot to learn on what Child drowning truly means and how his words have affected families and the advocacy. The pool laws in QLD are because families of Hannah's Foundation fought long and hard for. We as her parents, placed ourselves in the public view, opened our lives up for criticism. I am offended that our fight has come at some critical comments by Terry Gulliver. Comments that are generalised or judgemental have cut deep today.    He has done the industry itself no favours but has opened the gates to social media discussions and some callous banter towards us which may, just may educate someone on the real truth of backyard drowning.

Kat Plint