YMCA raising awareness and supporting Water Safety
Honolulu park video surveillance could expand
This year, we are acknowledging it once again because we have very uncomfortable statistics.
Hawaii has the second highest drowning rates in the nation.
Drowning is the leading cause of death for Hawaii children 1-15 years of age.
So, to learn more about this and to see what is taking place to improve these stats, we are hear at YMCA Nuuanu branch with Leigh Ann Landreth, VP of Marketing & Healthy Living and Aquatics Expert at YMCA of Honolulu.
Being that this is Hawaii Water Safety Day, what is YMCA doing to help to bring awareness to this and to hopefully better the statistics?
'Well, as you know, water safety is a year around priority but during national and local water safety awareness month, its a great time to elevate and uplift this topic,' says Landreth.
'Another statistic is that nation wide, 88% of child drownings happen with an adult nearby. And in response to that, YMCA launched its 'Phones Down, Eyes Up' campaign. You can find out more at phonesdowneyesup.org. We are asking folks to go to the website, take the pledge, and when you do, you get to access to free resources including Water Watcher badges as well free graphics for your phone screen lock to just help remind parents to stay vigilant around the water.'Bringing back to swimming lessons, I didn't know that YMCA was the one who created group swimming lessons back in 1909 and you continue to do that.
So, what are you doing today?
'That's right, we have been teaching people how to swim for over 100 years now at the YMCA,' says Landreth.
'We offer swim lessons for ages 6 months and up and financial assistance is available. People can find out more and sign up for a swim lesson at ymcahonolulu.org.'
I understand, too, that there has been some recent donations which will help financially for some families, but tell us a little bit about this because its good to know that through negative circumstances, something positive comes from it.
'Absolutely, so the YMCA offers a unique program and its called 'Safety Around Water,' the SAW program and that program is designed to, within 5 lessons, help a child know what to do when they fall in the water unexpectedly and the skills include floating and getting back to the wall safely,' says Landreth.
'So, we did have a very generous donor who came forward to help fund a SAW session right here at our Nuuanu location this summer in July. Unfortunately, this family lost their niece at just 3 years old. Her name is Juliette Ortega and they lost their niece years ago in a drowning accident at her birthday party, so this family just wanted to help prevent that tragedy from happening to other kids by sponsoring a SAW program and to inspire others to make a donation if they are able to do so.'
Download the free KHON2 app for iOS or Android to stay informed on the latest news
Click here to learn more about Hawaii Water Safety Day.
Click here to learn what other opportunities and services are available here at the YMCA.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Yahoo
20-07-2025
- Yahoo
A Tennessee teen lifeguard saved a man. How the rescue led to a new start for them both
The door between the men's locker room and the indoor pool flew open. 'HELP!' a man screamed. 'I need help! I think this guy is unresponsive!' Katelyn Williams, 18, grabbed her walkie-talkie, told YMCA front-desk staffers to call 911, jumped off the lifeguard stand and ran into the locker room. "My heart dropped," she said. "And I felt an adrenaline rush." Billy Austin, 64, lay crumpled in a bathroom stall. Williams started CPR compressions while a nurse who happened to be at the YMCA at the time hurried in and placed a defibrillator pad on his chest. Thirty compressions, two breaths, a heart shock. Thirty compressions, two breaths, a heart shock. His ribs cracked. His eyes fluttered. He took a few ragged breaths and then — nothing. Thirty compressions, two breaths, again and again, for about 10 minutes. Firefighters and paramedics arrived, put an oxygen mask on Austin and lifted him onto a gurney. Williams stood, shaking and gasping. The nurse hugged her. "You did great," she told Williams. "You did a good job." About 48 hours later, Williams gingerly walked into Austin's hospital room and hugged him. She cried harder than she ever had. The embrace unleashed a flood of emotions she had suppressed for eight years. The lifeguard: Dancing with her dad Williams' two favorite pictures in her bedroom are of her and her dad. In one, she is 9 and they're performing at one of her dance recitals to the "Twilight" movie soundtrack song "A Thousand Years." In another, she's 7 and posing in a floral-patterned dress during a daddy-daughter outing to a restaurant. "No special occasion," she said, "but I was really excited that Dad carved out time just for me." Williams sighed and paused. "Looking at those two pictures," she said, "it's more sad than anything. Every time I talk about my dad, I end up crying or something." Months before Williams was born, her father joined the Virginia State Police. Within a year, he responded to the deadliest school shooting in modern U.S. history, trying to save some of the 30 people killed in Norris Hall at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007. It was the first of several violent crime scenes Trooper Thomas Andrew "Andy" Williams faced in his 11-year career. He suffered post traumatic stress, but never sought or received mental health treatment, Williams and her mother said. The survivor: Why the Y felt like home Billy Austin boasts, 45 years later, that he once was the youngest waterfront director ever to work at Camp Minikani. He was 19 then, a year older than Williams is now. Sure, he loved canoeing, swimming and building fires there as a kid just outside his hometown of Milwaukee. But that YMCA camp was more than a summer hang, especially after his parents divorced when he was 13. "I came from a home that was not a very functional home," he said. "I didn't really have a feeling of family growing up, but I had that feeling at the Y camps. I lived for summers for that reason. The YMCA felt like family and I always felt at home at the Y." In his teen years there, counselors taught Austin how to play guitar, and he wrote his first songs. Austin, strumming a guitar, sang one of them, "Thinking of You," in front of a bonfire for 250 campers and staffers. "When I got done with the song," he said, "the kids screamed so loud, I turned around because I thought the fire was falling on top of me. But they were screaming for the song." The lifeguard: 'She told me my dad was in heaven' A decade after the Virginia Tech shooting, Williams, on an overnight visit at her grandparents' house, was tossing and turning in bed. She finally drifted off to sleep but woke an hour later. Her mom was sitting at the foot of her bed. "She told me my dad was in heaven," Williams said. "I started crying. Then I heard other family members screaming and crying." Her father died by suicide on April 16, 2017. It was Easter morning, 10 years to the day after the Virginia Tech shootings. Williams and her brother and sister, both younger, stayed home from school that next week, partly to grieve, partly to avoid the barrage of questions that surely would come from classmates in their hometown of Abingdon, Virginia, population 8,000. "The kids and I moved after that," Williams' mom, Maggie Panter, said. "They were uncomfortable that everyone knew what happened." The survivor: A bluegrass band champ Austin eventually learned how to play mandolin and fiddle, and he formed a bluegrass band with fellow Wisconsin musicians, a band they called Northern Hospitality. The fellas toured the U.S. and started scoring invitations to international folk festivals, eventually performing in 17 countries. The game changer for Austin: the 1987 Telluride Band Contest in Colorado. One of more than 200 bands to enter, Northern Hospitality made it to the final 12 that battled it out on stage. The band, the only one to play original songs, hoisted the trophy that night. Afterward, the judges asked who wrote those amazing songs. The guys all pointed to Austin. "Well," one of the judges said, "you need to go to Nashville." When he got to Music City in 1990, Austin looked for a gym. Although other places were far less expensive, he chose the YMCA. "I was here as a starving songwriter," he said, "and I could barely afford a Y membership, but I kept loyal because of my summer camp experiences in Wisconsin." Austin also felt safer there because he knew firsthand of the rigorous first aid training lifeguards and other staffers received. "If anything ever happened to me," he thought, "I'd rather be at a YMCA." The lifeguard: Anger, then understanding At first, Williams was angry at her father for killing himself. "I was 10, and I didn't understand why he would choose to leave us," she said. "Now I have a better understanding of mental health. 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One, two, three, four. ... Paula Carney, the nurse who happened to be at the Y that day, came in and gave the man two breaths when Williams reached 30. Williams voice started shaking. "You're doing an amazing job," Carney reassured her. During the second round of compressions, they heard Austin's ribs crack. Carney and another nurse in the building rolled up Austin's shirt, engaged the defibrillator and shocked his heart twice. His eyes opened, but only for a second. He took a few ragged breaths, but only a few. Each flicker of life spurred Williams to keep going. She fought back tears. "I was looking at him ... and I knew that his family cared about him deeply, and I wanted to be that person that gave him another chance at life," she said. "So I gave it my 100%. I wanted to do everything in my power to save him." By the time first responders arrived, Austin had a faint pulse. Some color had returned to his face. 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"'God knew I needed you," she told him. "That's why he let me save you." A lifelong bond Williams and Austin stayed in touch. She told him about her dad. "It was just an instant bond that you can't describe," Austin said. Williams asked Austin to come by her house and see her off on prom night. Then she invited him to her high school graduation. Yes, and yes, he said with no hesitation. "All my friends, ... we knew at that moment that she was a daughter to me, that she was family, that this is a lifelong bond." Williams and Austin have talked or texted with each other every day since the Feb. 12 hospital visit. He took Williams, her boyfriend, and her mom to dinner the night of her prom. And he cheered her on in May when she got her high school diploma. When Williams got accepted to Galen College of Nursing in Nashville, Austin pledged to help with tuition and her other education expenses. 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CBS News
02-07-2025
- CBS News
Here's how parents can prevent drownings, according to a Maryland swim instructor
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Yahoo
27-06-2025
- Yahoo
Hawai'i Pharmacists Association and APhA celebrate passage of landmark legislation
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