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Speaker 1: We recently learned that WA has the worst drowning statistics

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Speaker 1: in the country, which really shocked me. And heading into summer,

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Speaker 1: we want to talk about the importance of knowing how

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Speaker 1: to swim and also knowing CPR. The latest National Drowning

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Speaker 1: report shows three hundred and fifty seven drowning deaths over

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Speaker 1: the past twelve months. That's a twenty seven percent increase

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Speaker 1: on the ten year average, and that's why Lauren Nimmo

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Speaker 1: from Rural Life Saving w Way is with us. Good morning, Lauren.

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Speaker 2: Good morning.

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Speaker 1: What is going on? Why the increase?

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Speaker 2: It's really disappointing and it's really sobering, I think to

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Speaker 2: see that both nationally and hearing WA, we saw such

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Speaker 2: big increases in fatal drowning deaths over the last twelve months.

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Speaker 2: The fact that WA is recording the highest rate of

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Speaker 2: drowning in the nation is really quite saddening for us,

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Speaker 2: and I guess highlights the need for us to do

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Speaker 2: more to educate people about the risks around the water

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Speaker 2: so that they can stay safe and hopefully we see

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Speaker 2: those drowning rates the.

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Speaker 3: Other way and to put it into some perspective, I

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Speaker 3: just saw some figures that equated to about at least

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Speaker 3: three people a week drowned in wa last summer.

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Speaker 2: I think people tend to underestimate the impact that drowning

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Speaker 2: has on our community, and it's important to remember this

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Speaker 2: is only one part of the story. You know, we

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Speaker 2: obviously see a lot of people losing their lives to drowning,

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Speaker 2: but we know that there's far more that are hospitalized

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Speaker 2: every year following a non fatal drowning incident, and a

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Speaker 2: lot of them sustain lifelong injuries where the spinal cord injury,

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Speaker 2: brain injury that have serious impacts on themselves, their families,

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Speaker 2: and their communities as well. So this is saddening, but

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Speaker 2: it's also a very small part of a bigger picture

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Speaker 2: around drowning.

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Speaker 1: A lot of people hear these statistics about the number

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Speaker 1: of people that can't swim, and they immediately think, God,

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Speaker 1: these are probably people from overseas, and I'm guilty of

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Speaker 1: thinking that too. Misconception number one.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely. You know, look, there are a lot of migrants

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Speaker 2: who come to this country who have limited swimming skins.

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Speaker 2: There are great programs out there now that can help

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Speaker 2: people learn those important skills that they might not have

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Speaker 2: had the opportunity that we take for granted here living

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Speaker 2: and growing up in Australia. However, we actually see a

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Speaker 2: lot more drowning deaths of people that live and have

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Speaker 2: lived in Australia for majority of their lives, particularly adults,

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Speaker 2: you know, people that maybe haven't practiced those skills in

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Speaker 2: a long time and are getting back into the water.

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Speaker 2: I think so. I think the fact that we've grown

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Speaker 2: up around the water, we do take that for granted,

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Speaker 2: and we do think we are safe when we're around

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Speaker 2: the water, and perhaps that safety aspect gets put to

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Speaker 2: the back of their mind when they're at the local

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Speaker 2: pool or at the beach or at the river participating

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Speaker 2: in an aquadic activity, and people do need to keep

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Speaker 2: it front of mind.

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Speaker 1: Well, here's another thing that surprised me. The National Drowning

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Speaker 1: Report shows the latest rates of drowning were in the

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Speaker 1: lowest of bigger pattern. The lowest rates of drowning were

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Speaker 1: in children five to fourteen years, and then it rises sharply.

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Speaker 1: And also the biggest number of people drowning are older

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Speaker 1: people like my age. I thought we all sort of

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Speaker 1: did our you know, at school we all had.

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Speaker 3: To dot our water safety, but our water.

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Speaker 1: Safety did our bronze medallion or so, what where's that

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Speaker 1: gone wrong?

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Speaker 2: It's interesting do they forget? I think it's a couple

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Speaker 2: of things. I think as we get older, people are

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Speaker 2: perhaps getting back into aquadic activities for a number of

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Speaker 2: health reasons. Obviously, swimming and aquadic activities have great positive

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Speaker 2: health outcomes for people as they age, and so it's

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Speaker 2: fantastic that people are getting back into the water. But

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Speaker 2: perhaps these are skills that they haven't done for a

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Speaker 2: long time, so they're jumping back into the water thinking

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Speaker 2: they can do what they did twenty thirty years ago, and.

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Speaker 3: Perhaps, like so many things, find out to the countrary exactly.

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Speaker 3: How can you know we in wa, communities, governments, just

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Speaker 3: the general person, how can we play a more active

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Speaker 3: role in preventing I think there's yeah.

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Speaker 2: I think there's a number of things that we can do.

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Speaker 2: I think as individuals we need to look at how

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Speaker 2: educated we are about the risks and dangers around our waterways.

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Speaker 2: I think we need to keep them front of mind

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Speaker 2: when we're around the water, whether that's supervising young children

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Speaker 2: at a home swimming pool, whether it's knowing the risks

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Speaker 2: at the location that you're going to on summer holidays,

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Speaker 2: when you're traveling within regional wa or to places you're

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Speaker 2: not familiar with. I think it's educating yourself about what

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Speaker 2: those risks are and making sure that your skills match

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Speaker 2: the risks that exist.

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Speaker 1: Well, that's key, isn't it. Lauren? How would you define

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Speaker 1: the difference between knowing how to swim and having survival

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Speaker 1: water skills.

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Speaker 2: It's always an interesting debate and I think that often

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Speaker 2: people confuse the two and they think my child can

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Speaker 2: do freestyle, they can swim and stay safe around the water.

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Speaker 2: At Raal Life Saving we have what we call ours

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Speaker 2: Swimming and Water Safety Benchmarks, which is really about what

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Speaker 2: kids should aim to have at the end of leaving

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Speaker 2: primary school and really children should be able to swim

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Speaker 2: fifty meters unassisted and either float or tread water for

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Speaker 2: two minutes. And that's what it is. To stay safe.

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Speaker 2: It's about being able to help yourself and help others

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Speaker 2: if they do get into trouble.

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Speaker 3: And when you're down the beach in summer, like so

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Speaker 3: many don't do, try and swim between the flags.

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Speaker 1: I definitely swim between.

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Speaker 3: The flags because if you do get into trouble, you've

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Speaker 3: got so much more chance of being helped.

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Speaker 1: That's half the battle already done for you. They're telling

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Speaker 1: you where to swim, believe them, just want to touch

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Speaker 1: quickly on CPR. It would be only twenty five percent

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Speaker 1: apparently of wa parents and cares of young children have

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Speaker 1: CPR training. And yet how critical is timely CPR to survival.

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Speaker 2: I mean, it's literally the difference between life and death,

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Speaker 2: isn't it really? You know, quick CPR brain damage can

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Speaker 2: occur in minutes of oxygen deprivations. So the most important

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Speaker 2: thing if someone has experienced a drowning and his unconscious

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Speaker 2: is to start CPR. And I think some times life

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Speaker 2: gets busy and that people sometimes it keeps getting pushed

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Speaker 2: further down the to do list, But it really is

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Speaker 2: an important life saving skill all that people, especially if

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Speaker 2: you enjoy both. Yes, it's really important that people have

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Speaker 2: that life saving skill so that in the event of

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Speaker 2: emergency they know what to do and they can act quickly, because,

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Speaker 2: like I said, it really can be the difference between

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Speaker 2: surviving and not.

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Speaker 1: Well, we're going to talk about this all this week

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Speaker 1: because we really want to hammer home this message before

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Speaker 1: summer hits properly, and so we thank you very much

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Speaker 1: Lauren from a Royal Lifesaving w WA for helping us kick.

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Speaker 2: It off lovely, Thanks so much for having me, Thank you,

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Speaker 2: You're welcome.

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Speaker 3: Let's stay safe this summer