Backyard pool safety on medical society agenda
CBC News
Posted: Sep 8, 2012 12:44 PM AT
Last Updated: Sep 8, 2012 2:21 PM AT
Dr. Kathy Bigsby is helping champion child safety when it comes to backyard pools. (CBC)The Medical Society of P.E.I. is meeting today in O'Leary, and one item on the agenda is drowning prevention in backyard pools.
The society, which represents all physicians in the province, is voting on various resolutions, including one that calls on the P.E.I. government to adopt a drowning prevention strategy.
It aims to protect children that use backyard pools.
Dr. Kathy Bigsby, a pediatrician at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, is helping champion the resolution.
"We know that people want to do the right thing. Legislation helps remind us that this isn't a tomorrow problem. This is really something that we have to do today," Bigsby said.
"If there's a law that says that you wear your seatbelt — you're not going to forget to wear your seatbelt, or at least you're less likely to. So by having a law there, what we're saying is this is important and you need to do this before you set up your swimming pool."
If passed, the resolution will call on the provincial government to mandate barriers to accessing pools.
It also calls for the use of life jackets and to train supervising adults in first aid and CPR.
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