Lessons in swimming supported
THE mother of a 10-year-old boy who nearly drowned on Christmas Day says governments need to invest in school swimming lessons.
Patrick Fox fell into a pothole and vanished beneath the surface of Lysterfield Lake in Victoria in the instant his mum turned away. After a frantic search, his father fished him out, unconscious.
“I thought he was dead,” Christina Fox said.
“There’s this myth drowning is loud, with splashing and screaming. It happened very quickly and very silently.”
Patrick was resuscitated and taken to hospital, where he then contracted pneumonia.
After recovering, he couldn’t wait to get back in the water, but the Beaconsfield family remains alert.
“We’re very vigilant parents. We were right there,” Mrs Fox said.
Mrs Fox said Patrick had had a limited number of swimming lessons with his school and privately, but would benefit from an intensive approach.
She said cost was a big factor and school swimming and water safety lessons should be subsidised.
“If the funding isn’t provided, they can’t possibly expect low-income families to find money for swimming. We’re not low-income, but we’ve got several children who are school age,” she said.