Officials kick off water-safety initiative
Campaign hopes to offer more free swimming lessons
Katina Gadson, of Lake Worth, knows how it feels to lose a family member to drowning. Her 2-year-old twin cousins Harmony and Harmani West drowned in a Deerfield Beach pool last year.
With tears in her eyes, Gadson, 42, shared her story Thursday at the Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County in Boynton Beach, where officials unveiled an antidrowning program called Water Smart Palm Beach County.
The Children’s Services Council along with more than a dozen other organizations discussed their campaign’s efforts to provide more free swimming lessons to Palm Beach County residents through community partnerships.
Gadson said she hopes the new program will keep people from feeling the sorrow she did when she lost her young cousins.
The children had wandered out of the house and were found unresponsive in their community pool by neighbors. After Gadson heard the news, she was concerned about her then-10-year-old son’s water safety and contacted the county for help.
She received a free voucher from The Drowning Prevention Coalition of Palm Beach County.
“Water safety is not a game and kids are curious,” Gadson said at the news conference. “[Harmony and Harmani’s deaths] could have been prevented, someone should have saw them and stopped them from heading to the pool.”
On Thursday, 50 life jackets hung from the ceiling of the Children’s Services Council in rememberance of the toddlers and preschoolers that have died in accidental drowning incidents since 2005 in Palm Beach County.
“These young lives were cut short in situations that most of the time could have been prevented,” said Lisa Williams-Taylor, chief executive officer of the Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County.
With the warmer months on the way, officials want to help all county residents — not just children — stay safe in the water.