9-year-old child dies at Hersheypark

Sad, but the amount of press this is getting is kind of disturbing. Even the Governor commented on it on camera. There are millions of people who go to parks and pools every day. Odds are that someone is going to have an unexpected medical episode at some point.

I haven’t been to Hersheypark in sometime, but the last time I went the waterpark was crazy busy. I mean, I felt unsafe in the lazy river (and couldn’t imagine the wave pool) due to how many people were contained in it. It’s got to be awfully hard to lifeguard in those situations.

I just read that the cause of death has been determined to be an accidental drowning, and that she did not have a medical event that caused the drowning.

Very sad.

I was absolutely heartbroken to hear about this incident. As a parent of a child in the same age range, I can only imagine the pain and grief those parents are experiencing, and my deepest sympathies go out to them. My ten year old son is a decent swimmer, but I would never allow him to enter a wave pool without a life vest, even if I were right next to him. Accidents can happen, and I'm not placing blame on the parents or the park. However, these types of incidents occur frequently enough that I believe life vests should be mandatory for all children, regardless of their swimming ability and strongly recommended for adults as well. The undertow even in a controlled wave pool can be surprisingly powerful and can easily sweep anyone off their feet.

I can't recall which park, but I have seen mandatory life vest somewhere for kids under a certain age, like seven, I think.

Maybe Water Country USA???

All SIX parks require it

"As a reminder, guests less than 52 inches tall in bare feet are required to wear a life jacket. Children under 42 inches tall in bare feet must wear a life jacket, and be accompanied by a supervising companion."

Having spent a good amount of the last few weeks in tidal wave bay, I can quote the spiel verbatim. Of course, this doesn't stop the kids from taking the jackets off and getting whistles...

DS:

However, these types of incidents occur frequently enough

No, they don't. At least in the US, drownings at water parks are statistically an incredibly rare occurrence. Especially for this kind of scenario where it appears the child was simply missed and not assisted in time by the Lifeguards. That almost never happens anymore in a water park environment.

When you consider the millions of guests who visit water parks each summer, it's beyond remarkable how few drownings occur.

I credit Ellis & Assocaites who pioneered water park lifeguarding and proactive aquatic safety concepts back in the 1980's and other agencies who appeared along the way such as Star Guard, NASCO and even Red Cross. They all have certainly helped adapt and advance aquatic safety to the highest of levels over the past few decades.

Statistically, water parks are incredibly safe recreational environments. Unfortunately, the media has a field day whenever the rare fatality occurs.