With drowning deaths on the rise, Park increases water safety awareness
By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
(Sadly, since this edition went to press, another drowning death has taken place, Sunday night in West Grand Traverse Bay. A flipped canoe sent two teenagers into the water, without life jackets.)
Last June 22, before Scott Tucker had finished his first week as the new superintendent at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, a vacationer drowned while snorkeling in Loon Lake near the Platte River. Two weeks later, an 81-year-old man from southeast Michigan perished in Big Glen Lake when his boat drifted away while he was swimming. And on Sept. 5, a 21-year-old died when his kayak capsized near Platte Bay in Lake Michigan waters. Three drowning deaths in or near our National Lakeshore.
Park policy stipulates that visitors are responsible for their own safety. But when something goes wrong, Sleeping Bear Dunes staff, first responders and local law enforcement respond. “Are we giving people as much water safety training as we should?” Tucker asked himself.
Drowning is the number 1 cause of death within our National Parks. Accordingly, drowning deaths on the Great Lakes shot through the roof last year; between 2010-2016, 537 people have drowned in the Great Lakes. Data collected by the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project (GLSRP) counted 46 drowning deaths in Lake Michigan in 2016. Nationwide, 10 people each day die from drowning, and two of those 10 are children under age 14, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
This challenge prompted our National Lakeshore staff to facilitate a “Splash into Summer: Water Adventure Expo” on Saturday, June 17, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Platte Point at the end of Lake Michigan Rd. The educational event will include water play safety demonstrations, skills practice and exhibits. The expo is designed to appeal to anyone who likes to swim or paddle in rivers, inland lakes or Lake Michigan. Kayak and stand up paddleboard (SUP) demonstrations, mock capsize/self-rescue exercises, and life jacket fitting will be offered. Stations will also be set up for weather and rip current recognition, gear checklists, and drowning survival strategies. (The expo promises to be lighthearted, too, featuring face painting and scavenger hunts for kids, with food trucks on site.
“The event is intended to celebrate safe water play and smart adventuring,” said Tucker. “As the water warms up and becomes more inviting in early summer, this event will be a great opportunity to develop skills and remind everyone about water safety and the importance of wearing a life jacket. It is essential to know how to respond if you find yourself in an unplanned out-of-boat experience or a rip current.”
(Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is also hiring a preventative search and rescue intern this year who will visit popular sites and talk to visitors about safe practices on the water.)
The Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project will be on hand to help facilitate educational trainings at Platte Point. GLSRP executive director Dave Benjamin owes the increase in water tragedies to hotter summers and longer seasons, which brings more people into Lake Michigan. If the weather forecast for this summer holds, Benjamin added, this could be another hot one, with more people going to the beach.
But he resists the temptation to characterize drowning deaths as a new problem. “Drownings in the Great Lakes have always been a huge problem, we just didn’t have a way to collect the data before. Now, because of the Internet, because of Google news alerts, the drownings are more noticed.”
In 2016, Benjamin said, the World Health Organization noted that drownings continue to be a neglected public health issue worldwide. But the resources allocated by governments have not fit the scope of the problem. The U.S. government spent millions to combat the Zika virus — and media told countless horror stories of the mosquito-born disease creeping northward — but drowning deaths have not prompted a national call to action. Meanwhile, 10 Americans each day drown. “There’s a huge disconnect,” said Benjamin.
GLSRP also warns that knowing how to swim should not be interpreted as a cure to prevent drowning. “Knowing how to swim gives a false sense of security,” said Benjamin. “When we look at the statistics, two-thirds of all drowning victims are good swimmers, who often overestimate their abilities.” Furthermore, when children know how to swim, it tends to reduce parental supervision.
“What we say is ‘everyone knows how to run, but not everyone can run a marathon’,” Benjamin added. “A drowning accident is a marathon of your life. If you’re in water over your head, and you exhaust your energy, you could drown.”
According to GLSRP, a whopping 54 percent of Americans don’t have basic swimming abilities to save their own lives in a water emergency. When people were tested on five basic skills — being able to resurface, treading water, turning around 360 degrees in the water, swimming at least 25 yards, and climbing out of water without assistance — more than half couldn’t do it.
“People just assume that going to the beach is like going to the pool,” said Benjamin. “So if we put 1,000 people on the beach, 540 of them don’t have the ability to save themselves. … Then you add winds, water currents and cold water fluctuations.”
