Tuesday, May 02, 2006

A Pool Story

Link"It's not clear why young African Americans, males in particular, are more likely than other racial groups to drown. But the new findings point to the places where prevention efforts are most needed, according to the investigators, led by Dr. Gitanjali Saluja of the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development."

Let me tell you a story....

NOTE: I heard this story second hand from Sandcastle himself. Names have been changed...yada, yada, yada.

It was high school graduation summer and several friends were over at Dustin's house. One of the friends named Ruby did not know how to swim. He was a linebacker for the school about 5'9'' and built. He was also black. Well he hopped into the deep end because some friend were going to teach him how to swim. Well, he sank to the bottom like a rock. (Don't worry he did not drown.)

I was just realating the story because the researchers seemed to overlook body composition in the drowning deaths.

"Researchers have speculated that the higher drowning risk among African Americans has to do with income; lower-income families are less likely to be able to afford swimming lessons. However, Saluja's team found that the racial discrepancy persisted even when they factored in income. More research, they say, is needed to understand the underlying reasons.

The researchers lacked information on whether drowning victims had ever had swimming lessons, but they point out that pediatric experts recommend that all children age 6 and older learn to swim."

Morons.

cube

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I remember hearing about that...also remember when CeCe (name changed) tried to swim the day we skipped school. Where you there for that?

Man of Issachar said...

nope i missed that also.

though I think that I remember that she freaked out, but i somehow thought she floated better than ruby.