I was honored to speak at the press conference for the submission of the recommendations to City Council. Thank you for all of your support. For the full text of what I shared, please read below. City Council’s next step is to hold hearings on the recommendations from the task force. 

Press Conference:

Technically, I did not witness a drowning. Darihanne submerged before I even knew to look. What I witnessed was her friend’s rescue and the painful battle between hope and time when a child submerged in our waters and time won. I have learned since that my experience is not in isolation.

We are facing an epidemic.

117 people drowned on the Great Lakes in 2018 alone. Imagine if that were Zika or West Nile claiming so many lives in a single region in a single year. We would act with urgency, eradicate this killer. Schools across the country do fire drills, active shooter drills, and tornado drills- but drowning takes more children’s lives than all of those causes combined.

Drowning can happen in seconds. It happens to people who never even expected to be in the water. It happens to strong swimmers. It happens to would be rescuers. And on July 6th, 2018 it happened to a 13 year old girl with a family who adored her, with family who would likely do anything to get thirty seconds back and decide to keep her home that beautiful summer evening.

Every time we are around water and we don’t drown, our subconscious writes a narrative that drowning can’t happen to us; we start to let our guard down. This stigma around drowning is compounded when we hear a tragic drowning story and immediately blame the victim for entering the water.

This stigma around drowning is the greatest threat to prevention efforts.

We must stop with the twisted Darwinistic thoughts. No child deserves to die. Especially when our culture does not properly educate or equip the public to protect themselves from a leading killer.

Yes, drowning is a leading cause of death, and there is even a drowning season. Let that sink in: there is a season for a preventable death. We know when and where it is most likely to happen. We know who is most likely to be the victim. Drowning is the #1 cause of death for children under five. The # 2 cause for children between 1-14, and adolescents between 15 and 24 years of age have among the highest rates of drowning, and they usually occur in open water.

Now consider a map of Chicago. We are open water. Yet every year, we are losing people, real people, to a known hazard on a public park during daylight hours with little to no prevention measures in place. We are failing our children.

The recommendations from this task force are crucial; they are critical; they’re vital, and they are too late for too many. We will never know how many lives enacting on these steps will save. It might be your life, or your child’s, or your grandparent’s, or your nieghbor’s. The question is how long will we wait to find out?

117 people were taken by a silent killer in the Great Lakes region in just one year. But drowning isn’t a number. Drowning happens to real people with real lives, snatched from them in an instant.

This is our chance.

Right now.

We are on the cusp of changing the future, the cusp of promising futures.

We are positioned to set the standard for water safety.

Chicago can lead the way, and as long as we are investing in tourism, recreation and costly rescues on the beach, we owe it to all people, but at the very least to our children, to invest in prevention.

That being said, drowning is not just an issue of injury, but an issue of equity. 80% of drowning victims are male and black and brown youth are drowning at higher rates. The greatest disparity is for black boys between the ages of 10-11 (who are drowning at ten times the rate of their white peers in lifeguarded pools).  Also, autistic children drown at 160 times the rate of their typically developing peers.

Parents, the City of Chicago has a responsibility and we are starting that conversation with City Council today, but we can’t wait for the City to protect our kids.

Learn and talk about the dangers of Lake Michigan with your family and friends:

Cold water impairs swimming ability and when there is wind, there are waves, when there are waves, there are currents with many drownings occuring by structural currents near breakwalls and piers.

Wear a life jacket if you are boating, swimming. Consider a coast guard approved life vest even in shallow water for young children.

Ask your pediatrician what else you can do to keep your family safe.

Finally, remember, a painful but hopeful new rallying cry: drowning is preventable.