Girl, 2, Drowns In Franklin Park Pool
FRANKLIN PARK (KDKA) – A 2-year-old girl drowned in an in-ground pool in Franklin Park over the weekend.
Emergency crews were called to the girl's grandfather's house in the 2400-block of Bellwood Court around 9:30 p.m. Sunday.
The girl has been identified as Kerstin Perez. She was taken to UPMC Passavant Hospital, where she was pronounced dead around 10 p.m.
No other details have been released.
Three children have drowned in the area recently.
Dr. Chad Nesbit is an emergency room doctor at Allegheny General Hospital. He has some advice for parents.
"So if your kids are in the pool, you need to be with them all the time," he said.
"You can't run into the house just to answer the telephone or change the laundry from the washer to the dryer.
"Someone needs to monitor the kids all the time – [a] responsible adult," he added.
The American Red Cross also has tips for pool safety.
"All pools should be surrounded by a 4-foot, self-closing barrier that keeps children out whenever the pool's not being used," Lauren Chapman, a spokesperson for the American Red Cross, said. "And all pool toys should be put away at the end of using the pool because those are the kinds of things that entice children back into the pool whenever there's not a parent around."
Dr. Nesbit says parents should learn CPR. If an accident happens, call 911 immediately. Survival depends on how long the person was underwater.
"If they've actually stopped breathing and had a respiratory arrest, that makes things somewhat more dire," he explained. "If good, effective CPR is administered and they're able to return to breathing and have a pulse and blood pressure, that's better."
RELATED LINKS
American Red Cross: Swimming & Water Safety
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