HOLMES BEACH – “Do you hear that silence? That is the sound of drowning,” West Manatee Fire Rescue Fire Marshal Rodney Kwiatkowski said, opening a discussion on the threats posed by not remaining vigilant around water.
Kwiatkowski was joined by Chief Ben Rigney, Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth, Manatee County Commissioners Kevin Van Ostenbridge and Carol Whitmore, Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer, Manatee County Marine Patrol Chief Joe Westerman and Manatee County Assistant Chief of Special Operations Sean Dwyer, among others, to speak at the event held March 10 at Kingfish Boat Ramp.
Of all of the people who spoke during the event, the most powerful and heart-wrenching testimony came from the Bardwell family who lost their two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Lylah in 2021 due to drowning.
Tom and Courtney Bardwell recounted the events leading up to their child drowning in their backyard pool. Tom Bardwell, Lylah’s father, who was home with the toddler at the time of the accident, said that with all of the safety precautions in place to prevent the child from accessing their pool, including a pool fence, he stepped away to take a phone call. In that short amount of time, he said Lylah had apparently tossed a favorite toy over the pool fence and somehow made her way past all of the barriers to keep her out of the water without supervision.
Lylah Bardwell was one of 19 drowning or near-drowning victims under the age of 18 in Manatee County in the past 12 months.
Speaking from her experience, Titsworth said that she nearly lost one of her nephews to drowning when he was a child. Thankfully, she said the boy was found in time and able to be resuscitated. She encouraged everyone to make sure that there is a responsible adult keeping a close watch on everyone in their family or group when in the water, whether at a backyard pool or at the beach.
Dwyer echoed Titsworth’s recommendation, stating that drowning can happen quickly and in just a few inches of water. He said that in addition to making sure that there is an adult watching children swim, to swim near a lifeguard, if possible. He also recommended having someone who is CPR certified nearby. Additionally, he recommended making sure that all children are properly instructed on how to swim, a sentiment repeated by several of the speakers.
Westerman said that for anyone bringing children to the beach for spring break, make sure you swim where a trained lifeguard can observe and respond if an accident happens. He also encouraged beachgoers to learn about rip currents and how to avoid being sucked under and potentially drowning when encountering one.
He said the first thing to do when you realize you’re caught in a rip current is to not try to fight against it to get to shore. Instead, swim out or allow the current to pull you out, maintaining your head above water, and then swim to the side then back to shore once released from the current. Fighting against the rip current will sap your energy reserves and could increase the chance of drowning.
With spring break fully underway in Manatee County, Kwiatkowski said that there will be volunteers stationed in the mornings along Manatee Avenue leading to Manatee Beach waving signs to alert passersby about the initiative to prevent drowning and raise public awareness.
Related coverage
