MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. — Nearly 3,000 people, including 300 children, drown in lakes, rivers, ponds, oceans and pools each year in the U.S.
Vanessa Ramos said she has worried about her children in pools. She said her daughter can now raise her arms and dive into the water with ease, but it wasn’t always that way. She said her daughter, Rachel, used to be afraid of the water.
“She was holding the walls. She didn't want to do anything,” said Ramos.
A few years ago, Rachel had a near-drowning experience at a hotel pool.
Ramos said her husband pulled her out, but Ramos felt helpless. She said she never learned how to swim growing up in El Salvador.
Ramos said that fear of the water worsened when they moved to the Vista Villas Apartments in East Charlotte.
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Multiple children have drowned at the apartment pool over the years, including an 8-year-old girl last summer and a 4-year-old boy in 2015.
“It was really hard for everyone, you know, it could be my daughter. She was 7,” said Ramos.
After the 2015 drowning, Ramos said she searched for swim lessons for her children, but transportation, language and affordability were big problems.
“Other people can say, ‘If they need the kids to know how to swim, why don’t they take them?’ It’s just not that easy,” said Ramos.
Statistics show drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1 through 5.
According to USA Swimming, 39 people have drowned in North Carolina this year, including three children under the age of 7. Most were men who drowned in rivers, lakes and pools.
North Carolina is the sixth deadliest state for drowning
Association aquatics director with the YMCA of Greater Charlotte Ame Guy said, “Mecklenburg County has been stated to lead the state in deaths by drowning, and it’s surpassing our coastal counties.”
Guy said Mecklenburg County children are more at risk because of their proximity to three local lakes and the number of pools without lifeguards.
The YMCA has been helping provide more access to swim lessons for families who can’t afford them.
This summer, instructors have been visiting 30 low-income apartment complexes in Charlotte, including Vista Villas, to teach water safety. By summer’s end, 1,000 children will have gone through the program.
“We’re not creating Michael Phelps in those two weeks, right, but we are trying to make sure if they fall in they can get back to the wall. It’s a jump, push off the bottom, turn around and grab on to the wall,” said Guy.
Guy said this outreach, funded by donors, will make a small dent. She hopes to one day make swim lessons a public school requirement in North Carolina so families like Ramos’ never have to worry.
“I think all parents want their kids to be safe and have fun,” said Ramos.