Local Business Aims to Prevent Child Drowning; Finds a Way to Expand in Tough Economic Times

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) November 19, 2009 -- Gainesville, FL -- For many parents, the arrival of winter means that it is time to put away the pool toys, lock up the pool gate, and prepare for afternoon play that doesn’t involve the water. As most parents can attest, swimming is their child’s favorite activity to do after school and on the weekends. Unfortunately, all of the fun can be dangerous as well.

“Just because a child knows how to swim, and the pool is locked up for the winter, doesn’t mean the child is out of danger. We have had multiple calls, even in the winter, from parents who’s child has had a near drowning experience,” says Jordan Meher, Owner of The Swim Squad. “Children find a way to climb a fence, or get out to the pool area unsupervised. It is imperative for parents to keep their guard up, even when the summer is over. A parent wants to create as many layers of protection as possible to prevent their child from making it into the pool.”

Those layers of protection, Meher says, begin with swimming lessons. “It is so important to get your child swimming lessons during the warm months in order to teach them how to be safe in the water, and what to do in case they were to accidentally fall in.”

The Swim Squad specializes in traveling to residential home and community pools to teach swimming lessons - essentially practicing “falling in” scenarios while also teaching swimming safety. “It is so important to teach the children to be safe in the pools a child is most exposed to,” says Meher. In fact, 98% of all preschool drownings occur in a child’s backyard pool, or the pool of a friend, relative or neighbor. (Source: US Consumer Product Safety Commission).

In order for The Swim Squad to help prevent drownings across the country, they have decided to franchise their business model. “Franchising has given our business the opportunity to rapidly expand, allowing franchisees to run the day-to-day operations of the business. The goal is to reach every child in America and teach them to be safe in the water in order to avoid becoming another statistic.”

Details of the program can be found at theswimsquad.com.