According to the Department of Health (DOH), 8 Filipinos die of drowning every day in the Philippines. This is the second leading cause of death of Filipinos under 14 years old. Drowning has been ranked as the fourth leading cause of death from injury in the Philippines by a United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) survey. The alarming number of maritime disasters in the country has also contributed to drowning statistics, also because the Philippines is an archipelagic country consisting of more than 7,000 islands, and ferries are primarily used transportation between islands. Moreover, the country is often visited by typhoons (average of 20-25 annually) causing floods, flooded areas, flash floods and turbulent seas which undeniably cost the lives of Filipinos, the Philippine report to the World Conference in Drowning Prevention 2011 (WCDP) said.
As an island nation, it is so ironic that most of us Filipinos aren’t equipped and educated in basic lifesaving. Many of us also doesn’t know the dangers that contribute to a life threatening drowning situation.
Last November 4-6, I had the opportunity to be one of the representatives for the Philippines in the World Conference on Drowning Prevention (WCDP) at the Equatorial Hotel in Penang, Malaysia, with over 450 participants from more than 60 countries all over the world.
Every two years, the International Life Saving Federation brings together its member organizations and invites the world’s leading researchers and practitioners to present and discuss the latest research and thinking in drowning, water safety and water sporting programs at the conference.
The Global report on drowning released this year, which is a first by the World Health Organization (WHO) dedicated exclusively to drowning, revealed that drowning claims the lives of 372,000 people each year globally and is among the ten leading causes of death for children and young people under 25 years old.
The World Drowning Report also aims to define the current global drowning problem, to identify the current state of drowning mortality data collection, to provide strategies to enhance and encourage better data collection and to provide opportunities for global learning from case profiles from different countries with well-developed reporting systems.
Aside from learning all the data, programs, trainings, and latest technologies in drowning prevention, I am so grateful that I was able to meet the world’s most passionate people who share the same burden and interest in lifesaving. Also understanding their different challenges in implementing lifesaving programs to their own respective countries, and the stories on how they were able to succeed despite all the difficulty each had to face, for a newbie like me was for me very heartwarming.
I was also given another opportunity to be able to participate in another connecting lifesaving training with the RNLI Future Leaders in Lifesaving Course last November 7-21 in Lost Paradise Resort, also in Penang, Malaysia.
With 28 participants from countries from the Asia Pacific region, it was a training program courtesy of the collaboration between RNLI and their partner organizations Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS) and Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation, and others. RNLI or The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is the largest charity that saves lives at seas around the coasts of the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. Founded in 1824 as the National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, the RNLI was granted Royal Charter in 1860 and is a charity in the UK and Republic of Ireland with Queen Elizabeth II as Patron. The RNLI is not funded by the British government, but is funded by legacies and donations by the British citizens, with most lifeboat crew members being unpaid volunteers. The RNLI has 236 lifeboat stations and operates 444 lifeboats. Crews rescued on average 23 people a day in 2013. RNLI Lifeguards operate on more than 200 beaches. The Institution operates Flood Rescue Teams (FRT) nationally and internationally (iFRT), the latter prepared to travel to emergencies overseas on short notices. Considerable effort is put into training and education by the institution, particularly for young people; more than 6,000 children a week are spoken to by education volunteers about sea and beach safety, and over 800 children a week receive training. The Institution has saved 140,000 lives since its foundation, at a cost of more than 600 lives lost in service.
The RNLI Future Leaders in Lifesaving Course is one of RNLI’s international program that aims to train potential leaders in Lifesaving which each participant will be able to lead and empower them to create a sustainable community that will eradicate death by drowning.
Our training with the RNLI, with some of the RLSS-Royal Life Saving Society instructors was also very much an experience and truly inspiring. Realized how dedicated and sincere these people are in what they do, even if they had to do those hard extra miles voluntarily, just so all of us participants will be fully equipped in training and education during our limited times. I also learned that in doing something for humanity, one must not limit to his own small bubble but by a global village.
I was sent there under the banner of HHID (Holistic Humanitarian Initiatives Development, Inc.), with the leadership of Mindanao-based lifesaving advocate, Mr. Dan Navarro. We are currently preparing different programs that are related to our own Philippine culture and geography in addressing Drowning, Prevention & Lifesaving, Lifeguarding, Basic Aquatic Survival skills, First Aid, CPR (Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation), Flood Rescue, Water Safety, Lifesaving Sports, Research, and other relating fields.
Our goal here is to collaborate every lifesaving organization and interested individuals to have a sustainable community engagement, empowering LGU’s, other NGO’s, corporate businesses, other stakeholders, and together as a country we will prevent drowning. We believe that our program will work because of the Filipino’s Bayanihan spirit and volunteerism.
Dumaguete City for me is one example of a community with the spirit of volunteerism, with the city’s youthfulness, I see people giving back to the community. I see organized (indoor & outdoor) swimming competitions, swim clubs with their swimming coaches always ready and available not just to promote the sport, but also teach our young to save their themselves in a life threatening drowning situation, thus eventually making them also advocates for drowning prevention. I also see the city’s established groups like ONE Rescue-EMS, Red Cross, mountaineering clubs, amateur radio clubs working together with our government rescue units like the PDRRMC, Rescue 348, Coastguard, the PNP, Bureau of Fire, Hospitals, Municipal Bantay Dagat and Barangay Tanod Patrols that are readily available to respond during times of crisis is a very good example of a community working together in saving precious lives.
Though we still need to train each other, for the reality is that we can’t be everywhere out there during those times needed, that is why I believe that drowning prevention by training and education for our young, especially those high risk age groups, is best.
Our first program that will start in 2016 is to teach primary & secondary school children in Dumaguete City the Basic Aquatic Survival Skills that will increase awareness and prevent drowning.
We wish to empower our youths starting with our community here in Dumaguete City, then the whole province of Negros Oriental, and hopefully the whole Philippines, that each one of us will be an asset and that each will have a role to play in lifesaving, and will contribute to the goal, that is to have a drown-free Philippines. For those who are interested in giving back to the community, and be part of this advocacy, you may contact us at my email flomdatoy@gmail.com. (Flom Barot-Datoy, a Nurse by education, a Triathlete by passion, and a Lifeguard as vocation)
