The arrival of the hotter summer months and the return to the aquatic environment is usually accompanied by a sharp increase in drowning or near-drowning incidents, especially involving children of the under 5 years age bracket. The majority of these episodes occur in backyard swimming pools, and it is often a family member who discovers the child face down in the water – a scene which is of course horrifying for the person concerned. When supervision and barriers fail, and learning to swim does not provide the swimmer with adequate drowning-prevention skills, emergency procedures (including CPR) offer the only other remaining life-saving means. CPR stands for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; a life-saving technique that involves chest compressions and rescue breaths to help keep blood circulating to vital organs and provide oxygen to the lungs. In incidents of drowning, CPR is not designed to remove water from the lungs. We have all heard a horror drowning story, and no parent wants to believe that this could...