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Show Drownings take heavy toll this summer Drownings are the third leading cause of accidental j death in Utah, after motor vehicle accidents and falls. June, July, and August are we peak months for drown- mgs in the state. In the last five years the number of Utah's drowning I ctims has been increasing I Ty- rising from 25 in , to 38 in 1967. This year I lth warm weather and a 1 et spring, the number has I readv reached 25 with the , "wt swimming and boating 1 father ahead. The number of drownings "as climbed to 370 during ne 12-year period from 1956 . trough. 1967, according to a recent vital statistics report from Utah State Division of Health. The irrigation ditch was cited as the greatest hazard, claiming 81 lives. Most of these deaths involved young children. The latest victim this year was a two-year-old Orem boy. Wading was the most dangerous water activity, activ-ity, with a total of 116 victims. vic-tims. Many of these were children swept into streams by fast currents. Within the past week three San Juan County youngsters aged 8, 11, and 14 were drowned while wading. Year after year most of the victims are children. Children under five years of age have been the most frequent fre-quent victims, according to the vital statistics report; since 1965 there have been 143 drownings in this age group. Those from 5 to 14 rank next with 69 deaths, and persons aged 15 to 24 are third with 67. Utah County has 3 to date with 10 for 1967. Sanpete has 0 to date to 1 for 1967. In Juab County there are 2 to date with 0 for last year. Nearly all drownings are preventable. G. D. Carlyle Thompson, M.D., director, Utah State Division of Health, recommends that every Utah family follow these three rules of water safety: First, prevent water accidents. acci-dents. Never swim alone, always al-ways wear a life preserver in a boat, know the water's depth and temperature before be-fore diving, stay close to the shore, and watch non-swimmers near any body of water. wa-ter. Second, drownproof the family by teaching everyone to stay afloat in deep water. wa-ter. A wallet card that demonstrates dem-onstrates drownproofing as printed by the U. S. Public Health Service, is available from the State Health Division. Di-vision. Third, leara how to give mouth-to - mouth resuscitation resuscita-tion to a drowning victim. A 2-yearold Orem girl was saved earlier this month because be-cause her mother had learned learn-ed to use the life-saving method. |