Drowning’s the No. 1 killer of young children — from Orange to Pasadena, experts are trying to change that
Just a month before he was to start swimming lessons, 21-month-old Jasper Ray St. Clair fell into a swimming pool in March 2014 in Orange and drowned. His babysitter had left the toddler alone to go to the bathroom and found him face down in the water, the boy’s father said.
Introduction to the Problem
An ambulance took Jasper to a hospital, where he was placed on life support before dying.
In the years since, his parents have dedicated themselves to water-safety education and drowning prevention by establishing the Jasper Ray Foundation. Jasper’s father, Jonathan St. Clair, sees the headlines roll in each year — of Simon Daniel, a Cal State Fullerton student who drowned in Lake Havasu, and Trigg Kiser, the 3-year-old son of a TikTok influencer, who died a couple of weeks ago from drowning in a backyard pool.
Until the loss of his son pushed him into drowning-prevention work, St. Clair didn’t know how many young lives are lost to drowning each year.
The Statistics
“It really hit home on how little we knew as parents about drowning prevention and water safety as a whole,” St. Clair said. “Until we had gotten into this space, I had no clue.”
Drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages one to four, and the second leading cause of unintentional-injury death for children ages five to 14, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The CDC estimates there are 11 drowning deaths each day in the U.S.
As of May 20, seven people have died from drowning in Orange County this year and another five experienced a near-drowning. From 2020 to 2023, 183 people died by drowning in Orange County, 314 people died in Los Angeles County and 177 died in Riverside County, according to data from health officials.
Efforts to Prevent Drowning
In San Bernardino County, from 2020 to 2023 there were 47 drowning deaths. Last year, seven people — three of them children — drowned in the county, said Linda Ha, a spokeswoman for Loma Linda University Health.
“Education is really what’s going to make the big change,” said Bobby Hazen, director of Stop Drowning Now, a national drowning-prevention organization that works with the Jasper Ray Foundation and other groups. “The education of the young children is really where we need to start.”
Last year, the Jasper Ray Foundation got material on water education cemented in the elementary school curriculum for most Orange Unified School District students, St. Clair said. Eventually, the hope is to push the curriculum statewide.
Water Safety Measures
Also in 2024, the L.A. County Department of Public Health launched a public-safety campaign in different languages to raise awareness of drowning risks and prevention, especially for children and older adults.
Cristina Alvarado keeps a book on her desk at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center in Pasadena that features the stories of drowning victims, from babies to adults and strong swimmers as well as people who had never taken swimming lessons.
When someone first gave her the book several years ago, just opening it made her want to cry. She considered getting rid of it, but soon realized the book was a reminder that the programs she leads at the aquatics center – including swim lessons for all ages and abilities and CPR and first-aid classes – can save lives.
“These are all people,” Alvarado said. “They’re not just statistics. And every single one of those lives could have been saved if certain measures were exercised in advance.”
Preventing Drowning in Children
Drownings often happen quickly and quietly, sometimes in water as shallow as one inch, Pasadena officials
