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I am at a loss when I read this story of this little girl that almost lost her life at Elkhorn resort. Where were the parents, guardians of this child? What kind of safety measures does the resort have in place - does not seem like many. No one cleared the pool or the area around it. I was once a Certified Lifeguard and swim instructor, who diligently watched everything, BUT, in saying that, we were also not there to babysit your child, because you wanted to send them to the pool for the day, so you could have a break.  
 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/elkhord-resort-set-up-for-failure-responder-says-1.3710356

I think that's a question that runs through everyone's minds.. Where were the parents? But one can't assume or speculate what happened. We weren't there, we don't know.  
 
It could have ended in tragedy but thankfully, it didn't. I get sick thinking about what could have happened. Thank goodness for those people that did CPR on the little girl.  
 
I'd like to know how the little girl is doing

Not every pool has life guards or staff watching the pool. They have signs warning you that it's unsupervised and I'm pretty sure Elkhorn is one of them. They really aren't to blame they did what they could once notified. Everyone reacts different in a crisis trained or not you can't always predict reactions. I'm sure they did the best they could in a stressful and scary situation. The biggest question is why was a kid unsupervised in an unsupervised area where it says kids if a certain age must have an adult with them!

Children move so fast!  
At 3 you want to start giving them a little independence.  
 
It only takes a second to look away perhaps to watch another child who has shouted "Look at me" and you loose track of the one that really needs to be watched.  
 
How many children were the parent/guardian responsible for?  
 
Were they all wear lifejackets or water wings?  
 
Did this child just get there and take off on the supervising adult and jump or fall in the water?  
 
I am sure there is more to this accident!  
 
But probably the biggest thing that needs to change is:  
 
lifeguards should be employed at all pools that are public.  
They may just some day save for prevent a child or adult from drowning.

We don't know because we weren't there. I have no relation to the family and have never been in this situation. But I'm not so quick to judge.  
 
What if the parents were sleeping and the child snuck out of the room?  
 
What if the parent was in the bathroom and the child snuck away. What if the parent was looking for the child?  
 
What if the parent was unconscious and the child left?  
 
I am just praying that the little girl makes out okay.

All I do know is that when it was on the radio the RCMP did say parents need to be more vigilant watching their children. Perhaps because this incident was so close to the two young children drowning over the long weekend.

There have been a few drowning stories in the last little while, and with the stories has come information on how quick or how there can be very little commotion, and it is reported that a child may drown in as little as ten seconds, that's not very much time, so quit with laying blame on anyone, and hope that all will turn out ok in  
this situation.

don brown said "There have been a few drowning stories in the last little while, and with the stories has come information on how quick or how there can be very little commotion, and it is reported that a child may drown in as little as ten seconds, that's not very much time, so quit with laying blame on anyone, and hope that all will turn out ok in   this situation. "

I was just saying parents need to really watch their little ones. Things go wrong in the blink of an eye.

Trying to keep a constant eye on you children still will not stop accidents from happening, unless you have only one child and are willing to hover over them continuously, a child at a pool is usually on the move all the time, one second they may be at the shallow end of a pool and the next they can be running down the deck headed for the deep end. If you are standing and watching you could be at the deep end trying to get your child out in ten seconds, but what if you are in a deck chair, what if your child disappears behind a group of children, what if you take a second or two to try and locate your child around the pool, even talking to another of your children can distract a person for more than a minute, plenty of time for a drowning.  
When an accident happens, people do seem to blame someone, even in the article there were questions of equipment or oxygen, this indicates that in someone's mind someone was at fault, that's what I call laying blame, maybe not for the drowning, but in the efforts for resuscitating the victim.

don brown said "Trying to keep a constant eye on you children still will not stop accidents from happening, unless you have only one child and are willing to hover over them continuously, a child at a pool is usually on the move all the time, one second they may be at the shallow end of a pool and the next they can be running down the deck headed for the deep end. If you are standing and watching you could be at the deep end trying to get your child out in ten seconds, but what if you are in a deck chair, what if your child disappears behind a group of children, what if you take a second or two to try and locate your child around the pool, even talking to another of your children can distract a person for more than a minute, plenty of time for a drowning.   When an accident happens, people do seem to blame someone, even in the article there were questions of equipment or oxygen, this indicates that in someone's mind someone was at fault, that's what I call laying blame, maybe not for the drowning, but in the efforts for resuscitating the victim. "

I think it is a parent's responsibility to keep their eyes on a young child at a public pool at all times. No excuses.

I agree with Don. Accidents happen. Nowadays we live in a blame society. Has to be someone's fault. Start an inquiry. Implement changes even if it's the first time it ever happened. I don't know how we ever survived.

Id bet my last dollar mama was on her phone.

Sometimes the time factor for drowning can be very short, and signals may not be exactly what we think they should be. included is a link that is a good read, and someday may help prevent a drowning if you recognize a few things.  
 
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/family/2013/06/rescuing_drowning_children_how_to_know_when_someone_is_in_trouble_in_the.html

Is there poolside rooms? If their is then make sure the door is always locked going to the pool area when you have small children.  
 
I have no idea what happened, or how mom/dad lost site of her, but could that be the case?  
 
PoliticallyIncorrect - maybe it was dad on the phone?

Teacher47 - the pool at the Elkhorn is not a small spa pool, it is quite large, and the Elkhorn is much more than just a spa. I have not seen the new pool in person, just pictures, but from the looks of it there are lots of places that a toddler could get out of site from their parents. Not making excuses and also wonder where the parents were.

I keep returning to the article and reading it, and I guess we all have a difference in understanding things, it mentions that no one identified thselves as a parent or guardian, to me that doesn''t mean they weren''t there. Efforts were already underway to resuscitate the child.  
I''d like to present a scenario to think about. A small child slips and falls into a pool, may or may not of hit their head in the fall, the child immediately tries to breathe and fills their lungs with water. In a way this child has drowned, their heart continues to beat but is unable to access any oxygen and the child turns blue. These events can happen in a very short time frame, especially if the lungs fill with water immediately apon entering the water.  
Life and death situation happen all the time, the important thing is the proper response in a very quick time frame, which I believe happened in this situation.  
 
Edited by don brown, 2016-08-07 08:19:15

I find it very odd that a nurse from Halifax had to step up and help this child. What trained staff do they have at Elkhorn, they certainly need to revise their policy and procedures.

If I was doing CPR, or mouth to mouth, and a nurse came along and identified themselves as a nurse, who I consider a trained professional, I would stand down real quick, hopefully giving the victim maybe a better chance.

That link is actually super interesting and helpful. Reading over it brings back some memories, and I believe I almost did drown while I was wading through the ocean a couple years back. I just bent over to get fully in and a wave caught me off guard and they just kept coming. There were people all around me and the last thing on my mind was to try to yell/speak. I just needed a breath. I was 19 at the time and my boyfriend was watching me. When I got out he said he had no idea I was even struggling. It's actually quite scary how quickly these things can happen, and I was older and a pretty good swimmer.

Daphne said "    don brown said "Trying to keep a constant eye on you children still will not stop accidents from happening, unless you have only one child and are willing to hover over them continuously, a child at a pool is usually on the move all the time, one second they may be at the shallow end of a pool and the next they can be running down the deck headed for the deep end. If you are standing and watching you could be at the deep end trying to get your child out in ten seconds, but what if you are in a deck chair, what if your child disappears behind a group of children, what if you take a second or two to try and locate your child around the pool, even talking to another of your children can distract a person for more than a minute, plenty of time for a drowning.   When an accident happens, people do seem to blame someone, even in the article there were questions of equipment or oxygen, this indicates that in someone's mind someone was at fault, that's what I call laying blame, maybe not for the drowning, but in the efforts for resuscitating the victim. " I think it is a parent's responsibility to keep their eyes on a young child at a public pool at all times. No excuses. "

We have four young kids and going to pools and waterparks is work for us, we are exhausted by the end of the day watching from the sides and in the water. We were at a pool last week where a little non swimmer was rescused by the lifeguard. Parents had several kids and we had noticed the oldest ( maybe 3) was receiving less attention but wearing a lifejacket...and suddenly he was not wearing one and in the deep end in trouble.

don brown said "If I was doing CPR, or mouth to mouth, and a nurse came along and identified themselves as a nurse, who I consider a trained professional, I would stand down real quick, hopefully giving the victim maybe a better chance. "

I am just wondering why they didn't have trained staff for that. When I was a lifeguard/ teacher of swimming that was a big part of our training.  
 
By how busy they always seemed to be, I assumed they would have trained staff.

In the article they said staff is always on duty and has first aid training, does that statement mean that it is a supervised pool area, or does it mean that there is staff around with first aid training, so I would like someone to clarify that point.  
Maybe I'm wrong, but an unsupervised pool area, that has signage to indicate so, means that if a person is using the area they do so at there own risk.

Such a scary incident for everyone involved! I hope the little girl is doing okay  
 
From staying at the resort, I know there is no lifeguard at the pool. (I actually can't think of any hotel pool that has lifeguards?) I assume they meant trained staff are there but that could mean front desk clerk, housekeeping, maintenance staff etc.  
 
Drowning can happen in seconds and happens to even the best of parents so it's not really fair to place blame, especially when we don't know all the facts. Perhaps the parents were there but the nurse lady didn't recognize them as the parents. If they weren't in the pool area, than yes, that's a major problem!!  
 
I don't feel that anyone is at fault over this UNLESS the little girl didn't have any caregivers with her. Perhaps an older sibling was supervising her though?  
 
When at hotels with young ones, pool or not, it's always a good idea to put the chain lock on. (Maybe she left the room without anyone noticing?)

IMHO, there is a lot of information that is missing. It isn't fair to make assumptions until all the info is presented, which the public may never have. All we have is what is made public and what is reported in the media. We don't know if there was a lifeguard on duty or if it was like many places that are swim at your own risk, where the parents were or why they weren't identified immediately by a bystander, what policies the resort has in place, etc etc etc. I found it very interesting that the CBC article spoke with the nurse, and that the headline is that the resort is 'set up to fail'. We don't know the policies or whether they are in line with provincial safety guidelines. For example, the nurse thought there should be an oxygen tank at the pool - well, there isn't even an oxygen tank in places like public health offices where people get vaccinated (there is an 'anaphylactic kit' with medications but no airways or oxygen), so I doubt it is a required piece of emergency equipment at a resort or hotel pool.

Not that this always prevents a child from drowning but swimming lessons go a long way to help reduce the number of incidents. Swimming lessons should be free and mandatory to all children, a lot of parents cannot afford to put their children in lessons.

aniqbee said "Not that this always prevents a child from drowning but swimming lessons go a long way to help reduce the number of incidents. Swimming lessons should be free and mandatory to all children, a lot of parents cannot afford to put their children in lessons. "

everyone should take lessons.  
 
But, what do you do with school like Hamiota? All they have is a summer outdoor pool. So, do you take a full day of classes to bus them to Brandon to take lessons?  
 
It would be great if everyone had an indoor pool, or someone locally who had a pool would let the school rent it, but then you are getting into liability issues.  
 
I think it would be hard to make it work for all schools, but would love to see it happen.

That is what our school did...take a half-ish day off and bus us all into Brandon.

remember this post is about a 3 year old little girl - these "school swimming lessons" would not have helped her. I still wonder "where were the parents"........"who was responsible for her"...........was this a CPS Child perhaps living in that hotel???...........see, there are many variables -................. I do hope this little one is doing ok -

I don't think she is CPS, this is a resort in a very rural area.