Swim instructor says some vacation rentals can pose pool dangers

More people are moving to Florida, and more families are adding pools because of the pandemic. Swim instructors say it’s a dangerous mix.

Thursday, a family vacationing in Cape Coral found one of their children floating in a pool.

While we didn’t know how the child was doing Friday, we looked at ways people new to Florida can protect their family members after learning about the scary situation.

According to Cape Coral Police Department, a family began performing CPR on their child after being found floating in the water at their vacation rental.

Swim instructor Lindsay Pursglove, the franchise owner of Swimtastic Swim Schools of Southwest Florida, says this is part of a concerning trend.

“These rental opportunities for families who are coming in to visit, there are no water safety requirements,” Pursglove said. “So no required pool fence, no required water safety education, not even a flyer or pamphlet saying the pool is a danger, or if you’re on a canal, there’s water danger.”

Pursglove says, as more people move to the region and vacation, often times, they’re around water more frequently than they’re used to.

“We tell our swim families that they need to obviously learn how to swim, and that includes learning how to float on their back, so if a child falls in, they can get safe on their back,” Pursglove said.

Pursglove says there are easy preventative steps to take.

“For people that are vacationing, it’s going to be the door alarms on the doors,” Pursglove said. “They’re little sticky alarms. You get like a pack of four at Walmart or Home Depot, and that’s going to help, so if a child goes out of the house undetected, you’re going to hear that alarm.”

Another tip is to move outside furniture far away from the pool. Children will climb and go in undetected, and that also blocks the view of a pool.

Pursglove advises families to begin swim lessons with their children as early as 6-months-old. She says that can save lives, along with adult supervision.

“If your child knows how to swim, you’ve already reduced your rate by 88% of a drowning fatality,” Pursglove said.