ELKHORN, Neb. (KMTV) — Drowning can happen in a matter of seconds, which is why one Omaha woman is sharing her story to bring awareness and to prevent future family tragedies from happening.
- Lisa Seeman lost her 3-year-old boy Aspen in 2016, after he drowned at a lake in Waterloo.
- Since that tragedy, she has made it her mission to help other families by starting the Aspen Seeman Drake Foudation.
- We went to Swimtastic Swim School to see how young kids are learning how to swim and why its important.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Drowning can happen in a matter of seconds which is why swimming is an important skill. Preventing drowning has become Lisa Seemann mission, after experiencing a tragedy firsthand.
"He was just the brightest sweetest, just most energetic little boy,” said Lisa.
In June of 2016 Lisa's son Aspen drowned in a local lake at the age of three.
Since that devastating day she's started the Aspen Drake Seeman Foundation to bring awareness to water safety.
One of the most important things she urges parents to do is to be cautious of flotation devices.
"Although parents think that they are safe, unfortunately, it teaches kids muscle memory in a vertical position to where they think they can swim,” said Lisa.
We spoke to Jamie Deffley with Swimtastic Swim School to see why life jackets maybe aren't as helpful as they seem for younger children.
"Then you can't get any forward progress when your legs are down so having swim lessons, teaching them to stay horizontal on the water and being able to move forward is super important,” said Jamie.
Swim lessons can help save lives. according to the CDC, children ages one to four die from drowning more than any other cause of death.
"And it is silent like you don't hear it. They think they're going to hear it if their kids in trouble but the kids, in act of drowning, they're taking in water. There's no way they can make any noise or really yell for help,” said Jamie.
You can start swim lessons at mostly any age.
And now there are infant swim resource (ISR) lessons offered for babies starting at the age of 6 months old.
"As soon as they can sit up, they can take these lessons,” said Lisa.
Lisa enrolled her youngest Val in these lessons and says she's very grateful for what it can teach little ones.
"It is the best thing I've ever - I didn't know about it when Aspen was a baby, but it is a life-saving technique that I would highly recommend to any parent with an infant,” she said.
For more information on places that offer swim lessons in the Omaha metro, you can go to the Aspen Drake Seemann Foundation webpage.
