Water safety rodeo

It not only takes a village to raise a child, but also one to keep them safe. Leading the charge this spring is University Hospitals Brunner Sanden Deitrick Wellness Center in Mentor, where everyone is coming together at the Lake County Water Safety Rodeo on Sunday, April 27, to learn about water safety in a fun format.

A collaboration between the UH Brunner Sanden Deitrick Wellness Center, the UH Lake Community Outreach Program and UH Rainbow Injury Prevention Center, this free community event is set up like a rodeo, where children and parents rotate through different hands-on workshops.

Other community partners, including Mentor police and firefighters, the Lake County Sheriff Diving Team, the U.S. Coast Guard, lifeguards and swim instructors, also will be on hand as they all have a common goal: preventing injuries and drownings.

“We started this event three years ago due to the spike in drownings and wanted to do something to help,” says Briana Price, community outreach coordinator at UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in the injury prevention department. “In 2021, there were five child drownings in our area, so that was our impetus to create an event that would be fun but also educational for both children and parents to help prevent drowning deaths.”

“As the temperature starts to feel like summer, everyone’s mind turns to water fun, whether families choose to cool off at the pool, in the lake or on a boat,” she says. “We want to remind everyone that good water safety practices are just as important as sunscreen.” 

Designed for both children and parents, the Water Safey Rodeo will teach children how to be safe around water, and, just as importantly, educate parents so they know what to do when supervising children.

The families will rotate through different hands-on workshops every 12 minutes and learn about different water safety tips, such as:

• Safety in and around pools

• Water rescue and supervision.

• Hands-only CPR demonstrations and practice

• Open water and boating safety

• Water safety simulation

“We encourage parents and children to bring their swimsuits and stay for an open swim after the event from 1-2:30 p.m. as we want to make it a fun event,” says Sharon Minjares, general manager, UH Brunner Sanden Deitrick Wellness Center. “Our medically based fitness center is a great community asset.”

In addition to the indoor pool, the membership-based fitness center offers personal training, weight-loss programs and more than 70 land and water fitness classes. During the Water Safety Rodeo, families will be entered in a raffle to win a three-month membership to the wellness center. Every child who attends the event will receive a free life jacket.

“Since drowning is the leading cause of unintentional injury and potentially death, it is vitally important children learn how to be safe around water and get swimming lessons as a preventative measure,” says Bridgett MacMichael, UH Lake community outreach nurse. “Lake West is a Level 3 trauma center, and we offer community outreach programs throughout the year that focus on injury prevention with the goal of preventing tragedies.”

University Hospitals Lake West Medical Center is located at 36000 Euclid Avenue in Willoughby. You can learn more at UHHospitals.org/lakewest.