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Speaker 1: Well, we recently learned that wly Way has the worst

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Speaker 1: drownding statistics in the country and heading into summer. All

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Speaker 1: this week we are talking about the importance of knowing

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Speaker 1: how to swim and knowing CPR if possible. This morning,

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Speaker 1: Natalie de Sincwe from Ombardsman doubly Away is with us.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Natalie, Good morning Lisa and Russell.

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Speaker 1: So can you explain what Ombardsman w Away does.

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Speaker 2: Yes, I can so. Obviously, every death of a child

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Speaker 2: or a young person is a tragedy and our office

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Speaker 2: is notified of the deaths of all children and young

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Speaker 2: people under the age of eighteen years in our state,

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Speaker 2: and we have an important role to review those deaths

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Speaker 2: to obviously identify any learnings where we can potentially make

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Speaker 2: recommendations to public sector agencies proving the way that they

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Speaker 2: keep our children safe. So when we look at those deaths,

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Speaker 2: we'll look for patterns and trends, identify fire opportunities for

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Speaker 2: improvements in public sector agency working with children and families

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Speaker 2: to keep them safe. And the Ombudsmen can make recommendations

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Speaker 2: and obviously when the Ombosman makes a recommendation will always

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Speaker 2: follow up to make sure that they're being implemented in

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Speaker 2: relation to those child deaths. Last year we received notifications sadly,

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Speaker 2: of one hundred and sixty one child debts. Four of

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Speaker 2: those were deaths by drowning, And over the sixteen years

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Speaker 2: that we've had this jurisdiction, we've been notified of seventy

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Speaker 2: seven child deaths by drowning. So obviously we're in a

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Speaker 2: position where we can really look at the platents and

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Speaker 2: trends across those debts and identify measures that can be

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Speaker 2: taken to keep children safe. You know, and certainly when

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Speaker 2: we look at child deaths, children can drown wherever there

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Speaker 2: is water, but certainly yard pools, our oceans, and our

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Speaker 2: rivers are predominantly in the places where our children drown,

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Speaker 2: and certainly, from our reviews, the measures that reduce the

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Speaker 2: risk of child drownings are obviously correct pool fencing in

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Speaker 2: backyard swimming pools, proper supervision of children around water, water

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Speaker 2: safety skills for children, and so obviously that's including learning

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Speaker 2: to swim, and if children have drowning incidents, obviously a

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Speaker 2: first aid response as soon as possible, including CPR is

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Speaker 2: really important.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So you obviously you have the job of assessing

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Speaker 3: the role of swim schools and local governments and school

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Speaker 3: general schools and different community programs in providing quality swim training.

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Speaker 3: What gaps in access or quality have you found in

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Speaker 3: your investigations. Are there any particular points that really jump

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Speaker 3: out at you that needed addressing.

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Speaker 2: We certainly have the responsibility for investigating public sector authorities,

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Speaker 2: and that'll include local government authorities and public schools. At

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Speaker 2: this time, we look for patterns and trends in our investigations,

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Speaker 2: and we haven't at this time investigated swim programs, but

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Speaker 2: certainly when we look at the deaths that we review,

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Speaker 2: what we know is that children under the age of

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Speaker 2: five and children from fifteen to seventeen are our age

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Speaker 2: groups that are more likely to drown, and so that

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Speaker 2: under five age group often haven't had access to those

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Speaker 2: swimming programs because, as you would know, most of those

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Speaker 2: programs through the school system start at the age of five.

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Speaker 2: So that's where parental supervision and CPR become really important.

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Speaker 2: And for our older children, certainly sort of swimming in

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Speaker 2: the ocean and our rivers, it's really important that they

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Speaker 2: have water safety skills.

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Speaker 1: You have extensive experience with the Ombudsman's office now and

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Speaker 1: a great background in child safety and wellbeing, would you

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Speaker 1: suggest that, I mean, I don't know if it's absolutely possible,

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Speaker 1: but would you suggest that it's a good idea If

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Speaker 1: anyone is going to become a parent, they perhaps should

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Speaker 1: have some CPR skills.

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Speaker 2: I think that anyone in the community would promote that.

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Speaker 2: But certainly when we look at drowning depth that definitely

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Speaker 2: preventing a drowning incident is obviously a priority. But when

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Speaker 2: there is a drowning incident, early response is critical to

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Speaker 2: better outcome.

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Speaker 1: Because it must be heartbreaking to have, you know, to

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Speaker 1: deal in situations where it could have been perhaps avoided.

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Speaker 2: Yes, certainly, we did a major investigation in twenty seventeen

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Speaker 2: and we looked at two thousand and six hundred and

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Speaker 2: two child drowning incidents that had occurred over a six

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Speaker 2: year period. Now, sadly there were thirty four child drowning

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Speaker 2: deaths in that group of children, but I think it's

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Speaker 2: important to remember that the majority in that two thousand,

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Speaker 2: six hundred and two group of children who were examined

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Speaker 2: did survive. So obviously an immediate first aid response and

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Speaker 2: CPR are critical to better outcomes for a drowning incident.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, because your office actually noted in that investigation, ninety

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Speaker 3: one percent of children who drowned were in a position

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Speaker 3: where CPR could have been commenced, you know, before the

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Speaker 3: emergency services arrived. So I guess that tells us a

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Speaker 3: lot about, you know, the critical nature of a bystander

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Speaker 3: having CPR training, whether it's a parent or a carer.

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Speaker 3: Pool supervisors.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely well, Natalie, I think that prevention is always better

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Speaker 1: than the cure. So we're really thank you for the

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Speaker 1: work that you do and thank you for joining us

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Speaker 1: this week.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for having me, Thank you