I was a trained lifeguard and spent my summers overseeing neighborhood pools in Houston.  Fortunately, I only had to give mouth-to- mouth CPR once in my lifeguarding career.  A five year old threw up water in my mouth, while his mom screamed in my ear. She was in shock that she hadn’t realized her son was drowning in the baby pool three feet in front of her. I was sixteen years old. 

Years later, after I graduated from college, I was dating a guy who also was a trained lifeguard.  We had a hot date planned.  I was dressed to the nines in my Manolo Blahnik sandals, trendy sundress and fashion accessories.  My date was looking hot  too.  We made an attractive couple.  We stopped at a pool party at an acquaintance’s house before hitting the dance clubs in uptown. 

We sat on two lounge chairs next to each other, drinking cocktails, our eyes darting to the pool in front of us filled with kids and adults.  We were talking and glancing at the pool, and without even a word to each other, we both jumped into the water without any hesitation, Blahnik sandals and all.  We saved a little boy’s life.  Both of us saw he was drowning just two feet next to his mom and she hadn’t recognized the signs of her son drowning.  

Do you know what drowning looks like?  Drowning doesn’t look like drowning. 

My great Uncle sent me an excellent article from Captain G that overviews the signs that a person is drowning―you may be surprised.   
“… of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult. In ten percent of those drowning, the adult will actually watch them do it, having no idea it is happening.” (source:CDC)

What did my date and I know, from 20 feet away, that the mother couldn’t recognize from just three? Did you know that most people who are drowning don’t look like they are drowning?  We stereotypically think of someone thrashing about and yelling for help, but actually, it is much more difficult to distinguish when a person in the water is in distress, especially children.  Drowning is not the violent, splashing, call for help that most people expect. My date and I were trained to recognize drowning.  The mother, on the other hand, had learned what drowning looks like by watching TV.  If you spend time on or near the water, which is most of us, then you should make sure that you and your group knows what to look for whenever people enter the water. Until the little boy was rescued and cried for his mom, he hadn’t made a sound. Drowning is usually a deceptively quiet event. The waving, splashing, and yelling that dramatic conditioning TV prepares us to look for, is rarely seen in real life.

“ The Instinctive Drowning Response – so named by Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D.,  is what people do to avoid actual or perceived suffocation in the water.  And it does not look like most people expect.  There is very little splashing, no waving, and no yelling or calls for help of any kind.  To get an idea of just how quiet and undramatic from the surface drowning can be, consider this:  It is the number two cause of accidental death in children, age 15 and under just behind vehicle accidents.   Drowning does not look like drowning – Dr. Pia, in an article in the Coast Guard’s On Scene Magazine, described the instinctive drowning response like this:

1. Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled, before speech occurs.
2. Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people’s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.
3. Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water, permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.
4. Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.
5. From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.

(Source: On Scene Magazine: Fall 2006)

This doesn’t mean that a person that is yelling for help and thrashing isn’t in real trouble – they are experiencing  aquatic distress. Not always present before the instinctive drowning response, aquatic distress doesn’t last long – but unlike true drowning, these victims can still assist in their own rescue ― they can grab lifelines, throw rings, etc.Look for these other signs of drowning when persons are in the water:

• Head low in the water, mouth at water level
• Head tilted back with mouth open
• Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus
• Eyes closed
• Hair over forehead or eyes
• Not using legs – Vertical
• Hyperventilating or gasping
• Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway
• Trying to roll over on the back
• Ladder climb, rarely out of the water.

So if a family member falls overboard and every looks O.K. ― don’t be too sure.  Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don’t look like they’re drowning.  They may just look like they are treading water and looking up at the deck.  One  way to be sure?  Ask them: “Are you alright?” If they can answer at all ― they probably are.  If they return a blank stare – you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them.  And parents: children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why. “     (Source: gCaptain Blog forums May 2010)

For more water survival tips be sure to visit USCG rescue Swimmer Mario Vittone’s gCaptain Page.

Please pass this article along to others that spend time at the pool or the lake this summer.

A plastic Bowling Game (Toy Story 3) has been recalled because the red paint used on the bowling pins has been measured to have lead in excess of the maximum allowable level of 90 ppm, a violation of the federal lead paint standard. 

This recall affects Toy Story 3 Bowling Game Rugs with a batch marking of JA 148.

The package contains six white plastic bowling pins with two red stripes painted on the necks, one black plastic ball, and a 68 inch x 26 inch nylon game rug with a print of the character Buzz Lightyear on the front. The batch marking JA 148 appears on the bottom front of the packaging just above the bar code, and is also located on the tag attached to the rug.

The toy manufactured in China was sold at Walmart Stores in the U.S. between September 1, 2010 and September 25, 2010 for about $18.

Please Do NOT let your kids or pets suck on these plastic pins!

Consumers should stop using the bowling pins immediately and contact the manufacturer for a free replacement set.  For additional information, contact G.A. Gertmenian and Sons LLC toll-free at (888) 224-4181

Red Paint Stripes on bowling pins

Nestle, the manufacturer of the popular diet meal, Lean Cuisine is recalling more than 10,000 pounds of the meatball and spaghetti entree because it may contain plastic pieces in the meal.  Plastic is a good deterrent but that’s no way to shed pounds!

How did so many tainted meatball meals pass their quality control? When a factory is turning out so many meals, it should have a quality control line that is top notched.  Nestle corporate quality people will be putting their Corrective Action and Preventive Action  (CAPA)  Plan into effect on this one to assure that no more plastic slips through the cracks.  The FDA will be following up on their CAPA plan. 

No injuries have been reported.    Please throw the meatballs out! And call for a refund. 

Please call or email Nestle with Questions.   Roz O’Hearn, Nestlé USA, (440) 264-5170, roz.ohearn@us.nestle.com  or Laurie MacDonald, Nestlé USA, (818) 549-6235, laurie.macdonald@us.nestle.com

The CPSC has issued a voluntary recall of the Sassy refreshing red rings used as an infant teethers. Reported incident of parts of the soft balls at the end of the rattle coming apart and pose as a choking and ingestion hazard. No infants have been reported injured, but the company is instituting the voluntary recall just in case. The company is based in, Michigan. The teethers are made in China.

 The teether is meant for babies three months or older and has a red, water-filled ring on one end and a black and white polka dot ball on the other end. The two ends of the rattles/teethers are connected by a black and white, flexible plastic rod with three floating rings. The plastic ball can detach from the Refreshing Rings. This happens when a child chews on it, and since it’s intended as a teether, it obviously poses a threat. The teethers/rattles were sold for about $5 at mass merchandise and baby specialty shops across the U.S. from July 2009 through January 2011. Sassy Inc. said consumers who have this product should immediately discontinue its use and contact Sassy, Inc. to return it and receive a free replacement toy.

The CPSC warns that it is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.

For additional information, contact Sassy Inc. at (800) 323-6336 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday or visit the firm’s website at www.sassybaby.com    

Sassy Refreshing Teether / Rattle Recalled

Recently, I spent a few meals in New Orleans.  It is true, whenever I get an opportunity to go to New Orleans; I measure my travel there in “meals” versus “days”.  For over two decades, I have had the pleasure to travel to New Orleans for business.  I have been fortunate to have seen the city during Mardi Gras, post Mardi Gras (the colorful strands of beads speckled the streets and trees), before Katrina, post Katrina (by several days, when cars, boats, and furniture were washed up on the sidewalks) and even now after the gulf oil spill (the Gulf oysters are plumb and flavorable).  The food is amazing. While other cities I travel to grow increasingly dull with chain restaurants in strip shopping centers,  Nawlins continues to display its own culturally entertaining world where food is a religion.  

Where else can you go and eat unbelievable cuisine at a funky neighborhood bar or at the grandest haute restaurant? And where celebrities, locals, businessman, and Jeff & Jane from Nebraska wait in line wrapped around Canal Street for a table at a restaurant that doesn’t take reservation.  My dilemma has always been there’s a myriad of foods to choose from jam-packed in only a few days. 

Sea scallops swimming in mushroom risotto, sizzling oysters on have shell, blackened fish, deep fried beignets covered with powdered sugar, Seafood po’boys, muffuletta, Cajun gumbo (a catch-all stew filled with seafood & spices), crawfish etouffee, turtle soup, bread pudding with whiskey sauce and creole jambalaya; the attraction to New Orleans food is only surpassed once a year by the Mardi Gras Parade. 

I usually branch out and go beyond the bars/restaurants on Bourbon Street.  But you could easily spend weeks at the French Quarter and still never scratch the surface of all the great gastronomic and cultural experiences.

Tujaques (pronounced “Two-Jacks”) is one of the oldest restaurants in the United States.  My story with Tujaques started eight years earlier when a former boss on hearing I was going to New Orleans for a business meeting, told me he had gone to Tujaques with a local “regular” and in turn he was given the VIP treatment.  He said the key is to go in the restaurant and instead of ordering off-the-menu just tell the waiter these two words; “Feed Me”.  And they’ll know what you’re talking about.  “The food will keep coming all night”, he said.  “Whatever the chef feels like whipping up in the kitchen, they’ll bring it out to you.”  He told me he had 5 courses including a side of homemade brisket with horse radish, and the tenderest fried chicken with garlic potatoes.   It is true they do have a “prix fixe” or “feed me” menu, but they provide this to all diners.  I never did tell him, even to this day, that this is a price set menu, which is served each evening with several courses.  VIP or not, everyone gets brisket chunks in horse radish. I let him think he was like a food critic in disguise, where really his ruse was known.  However, an insider tip, the “chicken dish” is not available on the menu, so for a “feed me” experience, you should order it.

 Unlike most of the places on your list to travel, which are tourist worthy for the sights, New Orleans combines two distinctive reasons to visit: the food and the culture.  Your taste buds will thank you. 

The CPSC in cooperation with Dollar Tree announced Thursday a recall of 682,000 lanterns shaped like pumpkins, ghosts and skulls due to fire and burn hazards.

The problem is the bulb in the battery-operated lanterns can overheat, posing fire and burn hazards to consumers.

Several Dollar Stores nationwide sold the lanterns. You can return them for a full refund.

For additional information, contact Dollar Tree Stores Inc. at (800) 876-8077 (800) 876-8077      between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit the firm’s website at www.dollartree.com

Dollar Tree Recalls Halloween Lanterns

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Fisher-Price recalled several toys named below. Consumers should stop using the recalled products with inflatable balls due to choking hazard.  About 2.8 million were sold in the US. 

CPSC and Fisher-Price are aware of 46 reports of incidents where the valve came off in the US and eight incidents were reported in Canada. These include 14 reports of the valve found in a child’s mouth and three reports of a child beginning to choke. No injuries have been reported.

Name of Recalled Products: Baby Playzone™ Crawl & Cruise Playground™, Baby Playzone™ Crawl & Slide Arcade™, Baby Gymtastics™ Play Wall, Ocean Wonders™ Kick & Crawl™ Aquarium (C3068 and H8094), 1-2-3 Tetherball™, Bat & Score Goal™

 CPSC & Fisher-Price Recalls Healthy Care, Easy Clean and Close to Me High Chairs Due to Laceration Hazard

About 950,000 Healthy Care, Easy Clean and Close to Me High Chairs sold in the U.S. and 125,000 in Canada have been recalled because children can fall on or against the pegs on the rear legs of the high chair resulting in injuries or lacerations. The pegs are used for high chair tray storage.

CPSC and Fisher-Price are aware of 14 reports of incidents, including seven reports of children requiring stitches and one tooth injury. One of these incidents was reported in Canada.

Consumers should stop using these products immediately and contact Fisher-Price for instructions and a free repair kit.  For additional information, contact Fisher-Price at (800) 432-5437

Fisher Price High Chair

Ocean Wonders Kick & Crawl

Baat & Score Goal

Baby Playzone Crawl and Cruise Playground

1-2-3 Tetherball

Baby-Gymtastics-Play-Wall

Baby-Playzone-Crawl-Slide-Arcade

Step2 Transportation Station Toys were recalled due to choking hazards. 

The Land of Nod Vegetable Toys were recalled Due to Laceration Hazard

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firms named above announced a voluntary recall of their two products.

The Land of Nod “Play With Your Veggies” toys were recalled because the metal wire in the toy asparagus can become exposed, posing a laceration hazard to children.  The firm had received a report of an exposed wire in the asparagus. No injuries have been reported.  The recall involved The Land of Nod toy vegetables sets made of felt wool. The toy set has six vegetables: radish, onion, asparagus, tomato, lettuce and carrot. The asparagus is the only toy vegetable involved in this recall.  The toys were sold at the Land of Nod stores in Illinois and Washington, the Land of Nod catalog and www.landofnod.com from October 2007 through February 2010 for about $25. 

For additional information, contact The Land of Nod at (800) 933-9904 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 

Step2 Recalls Children’s Transportation Station Toys Due to Choking Hazard

The Step2 Company’s Sand & Water Transportation Station Toys (about 56,000 units in US and 7,700 in Canada) were recalled because the light blue plastic wheels on the train cars can detach, posing a choking hazard to young children.

The Sand & Water Transportation Station is a standalone play station for children ages two and up. The toy station consists of: a round blue plastic table, including train tracks, train cars in blue, red and yellow, toy sailboats and a hand rake/shovel. A red Step2 logo decal is on the side of the table. Train cars with grey wheels are not included in this recall.

The toy was sold at Target and other major retailers, specialty stores and by online retailers from December 2008 through June 2010 for between $49 and $59.  For additional information, contact Step2 at (800) 347-8372 

As children across the country start school, we as parents need to remember one very basic safety rule:  if your child rides a bike they need to wear a helmet.  Their brains will thank you. 

As parents, we’re not idiots.  All parents worry about their kids’ health and safety. We protect our children with cupboard latches, electrical plug covers and car seats, but when it comes to our kid’s recreational activities we relax the overprotective paranoia and give in.  I know.  I do it too.  I see kids riding bikes and skateboarding through my neighborhood streets without helmets. My neighbor’s give-in too. 

And yet, sports and recreation accidents, such as bicycling, skating and skateboarding account for 10% of all head traumas.  Of these head injuries 88% of that could be eliminated if helmets were worn.  Then why do only 8% of all riders wear helmets?

In some states, like mine, it’s mandatory to wear helmets while riding bikes, but not for skateboarding or skating, or even motorcycle riders do not need helmets.  Really?   Riders, you gotta wear helmets! Parents, you gotta get your kids to wear helmets!  Not encasing your head in this protective layer when you’re moving on anything except your own two feet is just stupid.  Plain stoopid.  Helmets protect the head from injury.  Think of jello in a jar shaken up.  That’s what happens to your brain if your head hits the pavement hard.

Why do parents let their kids ride their bikes or skateboards without helmets?  We parents give in when our children complain that their helmet messes up their hair, or that their helmet makes them too hot, or it’s not “cool” to wear a helmet.  My kids have also pleaded with me saying, “mom, we won’t fall off our bike.”  And for the most part they do not.  “But,” I remind them, “we always wear seatbelts in the car, and we’ve never had an accident.” 

Maybe we need to be reminded ourselves on what can happen to their brain when it’s not protected should they fall.  Demonstrate to your kids how a helmet can protect their precious brain by dropping an egg into a styrofoam lined box.   Then drop the egg on the pavement.  Point made.  The helmet cushions their head. 

My kids ride bikes, skateboard and play hockey.  When I see them, they are wearing helmets.  However, I was horrified by a youtube video I saw of my teenage son preforming skateboarding tricks sans a helmet.   If your stomach can handle it, check out the first few seconds of the attached skateboarding video where my son flew over a staircase and landed smack-dab on his back and conked his head!  Turn up the sound and you can actually hear the “thud” of his noggin hitting pavement.  Not cool.  He is a poster child for why kids SHOULD wear helmets and the motivation for this blog.  And yes, he has since been reprimanded (so no hate emails please) and he does get up and walk away.  He is reminded over and over to wear a helmet.  He wears it while ice skating and we now pray he wears it skateboarding, even when we’re not looking. 

Kids wear helmets!  Your parents are not being overprotective paranoia freaks; it’s just one less thing for us to worry about.

Do you have your kids wear helmets?  Is it a law in your state? 

 I was horrified by this youtube video I saw of my teenage son preforming skateboarding tricks sans a helmet.

“An estimated 500,000 persons per year in the United States sustain a brain or spinal cord injury. In fact, injury is the leading cause of death among children and teens. The most frequent causes of these injuries are motor vehicle crashes, violence, falls, sports and recreation. The good news is that most injuries are preventable!” ThinkFirst

Go to the ThinkFirst National Injury Prevention Foundation’s web site to learn more about programs aimed at helping people learn to reduce their risk for injury.  www.thinkfirst.org