Children from four to 10-years-old can get four free drowning prevention lessons thanks to the Burleson Fire Department and the Burleson Drowning Prevention Coalition.
“We, unfortunately, had a child drowning death in our community in October 2016,” stated K.T. Freeman, Burleson Fire Chief. “Talking with our partners at the Burleson Recreation Center and Sigma Swimming, we were shocked to find that a large portion of our young population cannot swim.”
Online registration will begin on March 2 at noon and space is limited. Participants will attend a one-hour lesson for four weeks, every Friday afternoon/evening. This year, participants will get two session options to choose from. They can either start the program on March 20 at Texas Health Resources Fitness Center, 2750 SW Wilshire Boulevard, or on April 24 at the Burleson Recreation Center, 550 NW Summercrest Boulevard. Multiple time slots are available to choose from during the registration process. Sigma Swimming certified swim instructors will teach all lessons.
New to the program this year, parents or guardians must attend a community risk reduction class taught by the Burleson Fire Department while their children are at drowning prevention classes. Topics covered will include hands-only CPR, Stop the Bleed training and more.
Burleson’s Drowning Prevention Initiative developed through the fire department, realizing this particular community risk and partnering with organizations to not only bring awareness to it but to work on correcting it.
“The scary situation is that a lot of parents, and the children themselves, believe they can swim,” said Coralee Flug, Burleson’s site coordinator for Sigma Swimming. “But when we evaluate them, it is very apparent they cannot.”
Representatives from Burleson Fire, Sigma Swimming, the Burleson Recreation Center, Be Healthy Burleson, Cook Children’s, and North Texas Jellystone Park, along with Shanon Murphy, from the Kidd Kraddick Morning Show started meeting in April 2017 to find ways they can partner to end childhood drowning deaths.
For more information about the program or to register your child