Elderly drowning in fear
Dispelling cultural myths of demons lurking in water is one way to prevent the increase of death by drowning among elderly migrants, Royal Lifesaving Tasmania general manager, Julia Fassina says. Most of Tasmania’s drowning deaths involve elderly people, a water safety conference in Launceston, Tasmania, last Sunday (22 May 2011) revealed.
Dispelling cultural myths of demons lurking in water is one way to prevent the increase of death by drowning among elderly migrants, Royal Lifesaving Tasmania general manager, Julia Fassina says.
Most of Tasmania’s drowning deaths involve elderly people, a water safety conference in Launceston, Tasmania, last Sunday (22 May 2011) revealed.
Ms Fassina told DPS Publishing that drowning deaths among the elderly was a “real issue”, and that more education was needed to put an end to the fear of water among many migrant communities.
She says there are swimming programs available to migrants, with many lifesaving clubs offering “very basic foundation” classes which take migrants to the beach, show and explain beach and pool warning signs, and helps them to distinguish lifesavers so that they know who to look for should they encounter trouble.
From 1 July 2009 to June 2010, 13 people drowned in Tasmania, while 314 drowned on a national level.
“That was mainly in the older age group which is a real concern for us because obviously there are issues there with the elderly drowning in things like baths or when they go for a walk, they’re falling over and falling into rivers, that type of thing,” Ms Fassina tells DPS Publishing.
While many older migrants are facing their fears of water, so too are older Australians.
Ms Fassina contributed the drowning deaths among elderly people due to past, childhood experiences.
“This age group (55 and over) has not learnt to swim when they were younger. The majority probably had a bad experience as a child,” she says.
According to Ms Fassina, one issue that needs to be addressed is the fear of water.
“We need to get the elderly confident in the water and help them have a little bit more trust,” she says.
Do you know of any elderly people who can’t swim? Do you think it is a vital skill to have?
