In mid-August, a friend of a friend lost a child to Electric Shock Drowning. I had never heard of it. It frightened me that I had never heard of it because swimming near a dock in fresh water is something I would allow my children to do. While I live and vacation on salt water rivers, I have many friends who vacation on fresh water lakes. It makes me sick to think of something happening to them or their childen.
Please read this article. Then, however you can, share this story. You can link to the article I shared directly, find a new resource, or link to this blog entry. This is an easy thing to correct and prevent, but we have to get the word out there. I want to be a part of making that change happen so no more parents lose a child this way.
""As Lucas approached the ladder to get out of the water, he let out a loud gasp, immediately rolling onto his back in his life jacket, apparently unconscious. Sheryl (Lucas' mother) yelled to the other kids to help him and jumped into the water herself. As the kids approached Lucas, they felt a slight tingly sensation in the water and immediately backed off. Upon hitting the water downstream from Lucas, Sheryl's extremities went numb, and she experienced extreme difficulty moving her limbs, which, at the time, she attributed to fear," wrote Ritz in a detailed account of Lucas' preventable tragedy in Seaworthy magazine last year.
Although his mother managed to pull Lucas to the dock where others helped get him onto the dock, they couldn't revive him and CPR was unsuccessful. Lucas Ritz was 8-years-old, and his death could have been prevented:
- If an Equipment Leakage Circuit Interrupter (ELCI) had been installed on the power boat that leaked voltage into the water where Lucas was swimming. It would have interrupted the circuit kept any electricity from leaking into the water; or
- If the marina ahead of the boat's shore power had been equipped with a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) breaker. Even 10 mA of current would have tripped the GFCI and stopped any electricity from entering the water."
FOXNEWS, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, other news agencies and networks, please do stories on this. I know from my husband, who has worked with electricity his entire life, that this is inexpensive and easy to fix, but it often takes some NOISE from people to bring awareness before change happens.
Thank you to my friend, Shonda, who brought this to my attention. My sincerest condolences to anyone who has lost a loved one to EDS.
