Central Florida Drowning Prevention & Water Safety Task Force Presentation to the Board of County Commissioners April 29, 2008

History  2004  Mayor Crotty reinstates the Central Florida Drowning Prevention Task Force  Covering Orange County  Approximately 7-10 members  2008  Task Force expands its mission and adopts a new name-Central Florida Drowning Prevention & Water Safety Task Force  Membership increases to 27 members  Orange, Osceola, and Seminole Counties

Drowning Prevention & Water Safety Task Force  Orange County Government  Orange County Health Department  Community Resources  Central Florida YMCA  City of Orlando  State Attorney’s Office-Seminole & Brevard Counties  Gift of Swimming  Orange County Sheriff’s Office- Children’s Safety Village  American Red Cross of Central Florida  Orange County Fire & Rescue  Kissimmee Fire Department

Drowning Prevention & Water Safety Task Force  District 9 Medical Examiner  Every Child A Swimmer  Florida Hospital  Orange TV  The Pool Safety Resource  Osceola Fire Rescue Department  Winter Park Fire Department  Osceola County Health Department  Seminole County Health Department  Orlando Regional Healthcare  Southwest Aquatics

Drowning Prevention & Water Safety Task Force Mission To increase water safety awareness by promoting and educating the community on resources and opportunities to prevent childhood drowning.

Drowning Prevention & Water Safety Task Force Goals  To reduce the number of children drowning  To promote collaboration among water safety stakeholders to implement aquatic health and safety education programs  To develop high-risk group drowning prevention activities  To promote Levels of Safety

Drowning Prevention & Water Safety Task Force Why  Over the past 4 years we have experienced 27 drownings of individuals under the age of 18  This year there have been 4 deaths  65% occur in swimming pools  75% are age 5 or younger

Speaker Ms. Kelly Oliver Douglass

Task Force Activities  Family Education  DVD  Brochure (Spanish, English & Creole)  Osceola Coloring Book  Swim Instruction  Head Start  Safe Start  Children at Risk  Children with Disabilities

Task Force Activities  Community Education  Health Fairs  Orange County Web- Site Citizen ’ s Safety  Orange TV  Transit TV-Lynx buses  Grants  Totaling $55,000

Dr. Kevin Sherin, Director Orange County Health Department

Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis Orange County Health Department and Florida Department of Health Response  State and national workgroup activities include:  creation of state and national database of cases  development of standard case definition  proposal to include PAM as reportable  development of updated public risk communication

Orange County Health Department and Florida Department of Health Response Risk communication: -newly developed public risk communication is found on our website- under “Hot topics” Proposal to make the disease reportable: - Not yet a law- progress can be tracked at Rapid clinical test from CDC: - We are investigating the usefulness of the test in the clinical setting in Orange County

Task Force Plans For the Children  Children ’ s DVD For the Families  Mobile for Retail Stores  Video of pool alarms and barriers For Funding  Involve Corporate - Private sector  Additional Grant applications to fund our activities

Water Safety Awareness Kick-Off Events  Governor declares April “ Swimming Pool Month ”  April 10-11, 2008 Water & Pool Safety Conference  April 15, Water Safety Awareness Kick- off  April 21, Spring Fling – Belle Isle  May 3, 2008 Summer Safety event at Barnett Park

Central Florida Drowning Prevention & Water Safety Task Force Children Aren’t Waterproof