News sources have reported the near-drowning of a 4-year-old girl this week at the Bluegreen Vacations Fountains Resort in Orlando, Florida. The girl’s family found her at the bottom of the resort’s 6,000 square foot swimming pool. It is unknown whether the resort had lifeguards on duty at the time of the tragic discovery. Thankfully, an off-duty Lake County, Florida firefighter was vacationing at the resort and was able to revive the girl with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (“CPR”) efforts. The off-duty firefighter identified as Lt. Shannon Bush has been quoted describing the 4-year-old girl as “lifeless and unresponsive”. Shortly after Lt. Bush administered CPR and was able to obtain a pulse, the girl was transported to a local area hospital for treatment. She was reportedly released from the hospital the next day.

This near-drowning once again raises concerns about pool safety and more specifically the high rate of child drownings in Florida. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Florida has been ranked as having the nation’s highest drowning rate for children under 14 years of age. This statistic is quite disturbing, especially when many of these drownings and near-drownings can be easily prevented with basic safety measures and precautions, including the posting of lifeguards to supervise and watch over children at public and private pools.

If you or a loved one has lost someone as a result of a drowning, contact a skilled attorney to assist you. The pool drowning attorneys at Brais Law Firm are here to help.