Drowned: The road to recovery

Many victims experience brain trauma and limited abilities — if they survive

said Terri Grub, mother of the Phoenix toddler. “They let me crawl onto the gurney with him and hold him.”

Physical impact on the body

said.

Libermann started teaching his daughter how to swim at 6 months old. But, as PCH’s Isaacson said, nothing replaces adult supervision.

Drowning accounted for 4 percent of all child deaths in 2015, according to the Arizona Department of Health Service’s Annual Child Fatality Review, which represents childhood deaths across the entire state. Of the 30 deaths that year, state officials deemed 97 percent preventable.

Isaacson said these rates have remained relative steady over the past several years. The state saw a sharp decline about two decades ago after ordinances were passed to regulate pool safety.

According to A.R.S. 36–1681, swimming pools and other contained bodies of water must be enclosed by at least a 5foot wall, fence or other barrier. The gate must open outward from the pool, and must be self-closing and self-latching, with the latch at least 54 inches above the ground or on the pool side of the gate.

Recovery: ‘It’s a process’

complications.

Emily Eoff, a student at Midwestern University in Glendale, drowned at 22 months old in her grandmother’s backyard pool. Blue and not breathing, she was transferred by helicopter to a hospital. She walked away with no physical deficits.

Eoff: “I feel like … I need to give back”

“It’s hard when you have survived something that other people haven’t or that most people don’t,” Eoff said. But every case it different. “Everybody always wants that miracle, and that doesn’t always happen,” Wilner said.

The family dynamic

The unpredictability of recovery often puts strain on families, especially parents.

Depending on the severity of injuries, a child could spend weeks in the hospital. Parents are forced to readjust their daily schedules. Other children in the family often feel stress, struggling to understand the situation fully.

Isaacson said many families fail to understand survivors of a drowning may suffer from complications that can shorten life dramatically.

Eoff’s family still feels the emotional impact of her drowning more than two decades later. Her sister can still visualize Eoff has a toddler, submerged at the bottom of the pool.

“I have happy memories from the whole situation because I’m fine, and they have all of the scary moments and the guilt,” she said. “It was 25 years ago … and my mom still won’t talk about it.”

Although hospital staffs hope every victim has a full recovery like Eoff’s, many children will face lingering complications. Wilner said it can be difficult for families to come to terms with that possibility.

“It’s a challenge to walk that fine line between giving families hope, but at the same time being somewhat realistic,” Wilner said.

Wilner teaches parents support measures appropriate to the severity of the injuries. She said she tries to help families prepare for the child’s needs down the road, rather than get stuck on the here and now.

Financial complications also arise. Families face battles with insurance and costs to cover hospital expenses. Some survivors could need equipment for long-term care, such as braces or wheelchairs.