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DOH-Broward:

Water Safety Advocate’s Personal Loss

Highlights the Need for Precautions

Nine years after Casey “We thought we were doing everything right.
McGovern’s youngest daughter We had child-proofed our home the way we were
drowned in a backyard pool, the supposed to, we had the pool fence, plugs in the
mother of three is still haunted by sockets, covers on all the chemicals under the
what she didn’t know then, and sink,” McGovern recalled. “We never thought
driven by what she wants parents about the pool as a danger. We put up a pool fence
to know today. to appease my mother. It did not have a self-clos-
McGovern is the Florida ing, self-latching gate. I didn’t think about the
Department of Health in Broward door opening. I didn’t think about the door being
County’s Drowning Prevention a hazard. There are so many things I didn’t think
Program Manager and her mission about, wasn’t educated on.”
is to save as many lives as possible According to the Florida Department of
through education. Her passion Children and Families, 12 children ages four and
BY SALLIE JAMES, about water safety stems from the younger drowned in 2017 and 2018 combined in
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT personal pain she experienced on Broward County. The deaths occurred in family
OF HEALTH IN August 3rd, 2009 when she found pools, community pools, lakes, the ocean and
her 19-month-old daughter Edna canals. Risks are elevated in Broward, with
BROWARD COUNTY
Mae floating face-up in the pool 125,000 backyard pools and miles of waterways.
the child had been playing in just Casey McGovern and Em “Because our county is covered in water and its
hours earlier. “Em” died eight swim season all year long, year after year our sta-
days later on August 11th. tistics show we are one of the highest counties in
“You think you are going to hear it. People think they are going to hear flail- the state of Florida for drowning fatalities,” McGovern noted.
ing and splashing and yelling. It’s quicker than you think,” said McGovern, When McGovern speaks to parent groups, she compares a child playing in a
who has devoted her life to raising awareness about the dangers of water. “A pool unsupervised to allowing a child to play in busy traffic on Interstate 95.
drowning can occur in as little as 60 seconds.” “It’s just as dangerous,” McGovern said. “Because a pool is so inviting people
McGovern, then the mother of three girls, ages 10, 3, and 19 months, had disregard how dangerous it can be.”
spent the day in their backyard pool in Coral Springs with her kids. After pool Pool parties are risky too unless there is a designated water watcher who
time ended, McGovern put Em down for a supervised nap and went grocery keeps their eye out for kids who may go under and not come up. “Floaties”
shopping. give young swimmers a false sense of security, she added.
Upon arriving home, she placed the toddler in a chair in the family room, on She recommends children start swim lessons as soon as they start to crawl.
the other side of a counter that separated the room from the kitchen. To get the word out about water safety, DOH-Broward has two drowning pre-
McGovern, who had been unloading groceries, stepped away to chat with her vention educators who conduct outreach in the community by visiting
husband in another room. She was only gone a minute. schools, cities and working with high school students in Students Preventing
When she returned, Em was gone. McGovern searched inside the house, Unintentional Drownings (SPUD) clubs across Broward County.
then stepped outside to check the side yard. She tragically found the blue-eyed “We try to be part of any city that does water safety – at aquatic centers,
blond floating face-up in the pool. pools and parks. We talk to the parents about swim lessons, vehicle escape and
It was too late. SPUD,” said Vanessa Figueroa, one of the DOH’s drowning prevention special-
Today, McGovern talks freely about the horrific tragedy because she wants ists. “With SPUD, we work with high school students to create water safety
other parents to know how quickly a drowning can happen, how easy it is for ambassadors.”
young children to bypass safety measures and that no one is exempt. The educators stress supervision, barriers, acting fast and swim lessons.
Her key points? They also emphasize that drowning can happen to anyone, from any walk of
• Drowning is silent life.
• Drowning is preventable “I think knowledge is power and I think the more people who relate and
• Drowning can happen to YOU connect to my story may cause changes,” McGovern said.
At the time of her daughter’s death, McGovern had a child safety fence encir- To help with swim lessons, the Children’s Services Council of Broward
cling her pool, but no door chimes on the rear slider that led out to the pool County provides a $40 swim voucher to any Broward County resident age six
deck, something she strongly encourages today. The pool fence gate had not months to four years old. The voucher is available to Broward County resi-
been latched that fateful day. McGovern said she also wasted precious minutes dents annually, up until their fifth birthday.
searching for her daughter inside the house.
Check the water first, is what she tells parents today. If your child is in the For more information on water safety, visit www.watersmartbroward.org.
house somewhere, they are safe.

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10 July 2019 southfloridahospitalnews.com South Florida Hospital News