Partnership aims to avert swimming pool drownings

Hempstead Girl Scout Troop 1570 and Nu-Finmen Swimming partnered for the third consecutive year to present water safety training to families in surrounding communities.

“They really thought that this would be a great event to get the community aware of how to save someone in a backyard pool,” Theudia Chambers, leader of Girl Scout Troop 1570, said.

Local residents and community members from across Long Island gathered at Kennedy Park Pool in Hempstead on July 28 for water safety instruction and pool games. Girl scouts and Nu-Finmen swimmers provided safety demonstrations to teach people how they can have fun in the water while still being cautious, placing an emphasis on backyard pools and residential safety. 

Backyard pool safety tips for parents included where to look if you can’t find a child or what to do in a drowning emergency. They also prepared kids by testing their swimming in the public pool and teaching them what to do if they see a friend struggling in the water at a pool party, and using tools around the house to help them out of the pool instead of jumping in after them, Chambers said.

Troop 1570, based in Hempstead, coordinated the event with Nu-Finmen Swimming, a swim team that teaches kids from ages 3 through college how to swim safely and compete in events across New York state. Robert Trotman founded the team in 1964, and his daughter, Jenn Trotman, is the head coach carrying on her dad’s mission. 

“My dad grew up watching other teens and children not be able to swim in Manhattan and Harlem where he grew up, and he wanted that to change,” Trotman said. “He wanted to change the stigma that Black people can’t swim, because they can, so he put forth the effort.”

Drowning is a leading cause of death among children from ages 1 to 4, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, with an even higher rate in Black communities. The CPSC annual drowning and submersion report for 2021, the most recent year for which information is available, shows that fatal drownings for children under the age of 15 increased by 12 percent.

81 percent of fatal drownings for children under the age of 15 happened in a residential setting, according to the report, and that is why the Girl Scouts and Nu-Finmen put together this day of training and education.

“There are so many drowning deaths, and within communities of color, you often see more deaths from drowning, so we’re just here to add that extra layer of protection for adult supervision,” Trotman said.