Union County YMCA boosts safety after drowning

It’s been almost three weeks since 7-year-old Miracle Smith drowned at the Union County Family YMCA’s swimming pool.

It was the first drowning at the YMCA’s pool, and the first drowning YMCA CEO Scott Sandor has had to face.

The day after Miracle’s death was the first time in nearly 30 years Sandor did not want to go to work.

“I was here. I heard something was going on at the pool, and I went out,” Sandor said. “The guards were already administering care. The whole ordeal here on site lasted about six minutes.”

Miracle was on a swimming field trip with a day camp group from the Union County Housing Authority when she drowned on July 22.

Lifeguards pulled Miracle from the water and began performing CPR. Police said she was transported to Wallace Thomson Hospital where she was later pronounced dead.

The Union County Coroner’s Office said her death was consistent with accidental drowning, and there is no indication of foul play, but the incident is under investigation by the State Law Enforcement Division’s Child Fatality Unit.

The pool was closed for a week after Miracle’s death, and when it reopened, it did so with some changes that Sandor hopes will prevent another incident like this from happening.

On the day Miracle died, there were three lifeguards on the pool deck. The pool always has a minimum of two lifeguards on deck, Sandor said, but when they know there will be a heavy swim load – like on the day Miracle died – there is a third guard.

That policy won't change, but breaks and guard rotations will, Sandor said. The pool will be closed for 10 minutes every hour while the guards take a break and move to a new part of the pool.

When a lifeguard moves along the side of the pool and changes areas, Sandor said, they are still watching the pool but this new change will ensure they are rotating without compromising the zone they are watching, he said.

Swimmers younger than 14 will be required to pass a swim test in order to go into the deep end of the pool. The swim test requires the child to jump in the water, swim 25 yards without touching the bottom of the pool and tread water for 30 seconds.

Going forward, Littlejohn said he really wants to stress to volunteers and employees how important safety is. Any time the kids are off site — whether it be at a pool or going to Mr. Gatti's for pizza — Littlejohn said safety is paramount.

"We'll do normal things like stress safety and certainly caution folks and make sure we stress the safety part of going anywhere," Littlejohn said. "We would want to sit down with them and have a meeting or training and give them a refresher on what our rules are in taking these young children on outings."

Water safety education is another aspect Sandor wants to tackle. While he wants people to feel safe swimming at the YMCA, he raised the question: What happens when they are swimming somewhere else?

He wants to figure out a way to educate the community on safe water practices that follow them no matter where they are swimming.

The initial response is to prevent another drowning at the YMCA, but the second component is preventing it anywhere, Sandor said.

If there is a mom who can't swim and is terrified of the water, chances are her kids aren't going to spend a lot of time at a pool, Sandor said. Sandor's goal is figuring out a way to reach that child and family so they're safe around water.

"Moving forward, one of the challenges for us is how can we better serve the community to help prevent issues and incidents like we had a couple of weeks ago and it not be just about when you come here," Sandor said. "I think the challenge is to not get too caught up in what happened, because you can't fix what happened, but use what happened as a tool and learning situation to help prevent it."

If they pass, Sandor said, they're granted access to the entire pool. If they don't pass, they have to stay in the shallow end of the pool.

Nonswimmers who don't meet the height requirement will be required to wear a life vest, Sandor said.

"Sometimes, the safety procedures you have, everyone presumes they're sufficient, and there is no doubt in my mind they were sufficient," Sandor said. "In recognizing we had this incident, there were some additional safety procedures we can implement right now and beyond that, there will be some additional safety procedures we will implement and use when we reopen next year."

The Union County Housing Authority doesn't plan to make any changes to its summer day camp going forward, said executive director Robbie Littlejohn. Counselors and chaperones were in place, and he said he was comfortable with their placement around the pool.