About Safe Start:
The Founding Partners: Safe Start was created through the collaborative effort of the Dr. P. Phillips Charities, Infant Swimming Resource (ISR), and the Central Florida YMCA. Through a generous grant from the Dr. P. Phillips Charities, Safe Start, the most comprehensive drowning prevention program in the United States, was made available at selected YMCA Family Centers in the Central Florida area. The Dr. P. Phillips Charities provided the funding to implement Safe Start (including training all instructors), and place Master Instructors in YMCA centers; the YMCA provided the facilities for lessons and the organizational structure to support the Safe Start program; Infant Swimming Resource provided the core teaching methods as well as the training and supervision of instructors; and the provided staff members to undergo ISR instruction and facilities in which to hold the Safe Start classes.
The Program: Beginning at the age of 6 months, children are taught to turn from face down in the water to face up and into a comfortable back float position; at 12 months old, children learn how to swim, rotate onto the back and float, and then turn back over and continue swimming to safety. Children are taught in a one-to-one setting, where the instructor is focused solely on one child. Parents, who must be present during the lessons, are educated about all aspects of aquatic safety through interviews, observations, and the Safe Start Parent Resource Book.
The Safe Start program is a comprehensive six week course. Five days per week, for a maximum of 10 minutes per day, a child works with a certified Safe Start instructor to master the survival swim techniques. The child learns the techniques in swimwear and also in street clothes, as most drownings occur when a child is taking part in his/her normal day.
Expanding to Reach More Children: Today, Safe Start has expanded to areas throughout the state from Central to South Florida. Forming partnerships with the YMCA of the Palm Beaches, the JCC of the Greater Palm Beaches, the YMCA of Broward County, the Peter Blum Family YMCA of Boca Raton, and the City of Coral Gables Fire Department, we are seeking to garner partners who are passionately committed to the mission of “Not One More Child Drowns.” The goal of this program is to reach out to communities throughout the country where the safety of children around the water is a priority.
