Summer Swim Lessons Are A Real Life Saver

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Florida loses more children under age five to drowning than any other state.

To prevent another tragedy, the mission is on all around Miami-Dade and Broward for families to get swimming lessons.

There are a number of programs that can help your child learn to swim and stay safe this summer.

According to the Miami-Dade Drowning Prevention Coalition drowning is the county's leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 4. Approximately 70 percent of African American kids have little or no swimming ability. That number is 58 percent for Latino children. That's a large portion of the South Florida community.

Scott Iovine is not taking those chances. He put his children, 9-year old daughter Sofia and 8-year old Vinny, in the county's learn-to-swim program.

"If they had any problem hopefully these skills will help them get out of trouble and stay safe," said Iovine.

Scott puts his children in the two week program every summer to brush up on those skills.

"There are a lot of canals, there's a lot of situations where you come into contact with water, and just going to the beach, there's riptides that effects the kids when they're swimming so it's always good to have more experience and more knowledge," said Iovine.

Jim O'Connor is the program manager. We met him at A.D. Barnes Park in West Miami-Dade, one of 12 locations that offer the Learn-to-Swim program each summer,

"Our goal is to make sure that every child in Dade county knows how to swim," said O'Connor.

All the swim lessons are taught by American Red Cross-certified lifeguards. The program is divided by experience level and age range. There are also adult classes. The classes are relatively inexpensive but they do offer scholarships for those who can't afford the program.

The classes are helping Sofia and Vinny.

"They love it. They are getting a lot more confident in the water. And they have a lot of fun," said Scott.

Click Here for information on the Learn to Swim program.

Broward County also provides a similar swimming lesson service to its residents called Swim Central.