About ISR
Veronica A. Kerst
Certified ISR Instructor
Founded in 1966 by Dr. Harvey Barnett, ISR is now the global leader in the industry it pioneered: survival swimming lessons for infants and young children. Our team of nearly 450 highly trained ISR Instructors provides the safest and most effective survival swimming lessons available. The ISR Self-Rescue® instruction our students receive today is the product of over 45 years of research and achieves unparalleled results.
Today, our mission, “Not One More Child Drowns,” is the foundation of everything we do and is the driving force behind ISR’s employees, our independent ISR Instructors, and our major corporate partnerships. We believe the successful prevention of the leading cause of accidental death for children under the age of 4 in the U.S. will require a large group of caring and capable professionals whose sole focus is to save lives. To date, we have delivered more than 8,000,000 ISR Self-Rescue® lessons and saved more than 800 lives.
ISR believes pool fences, supervision, and pool alarms are important parts of a necessary multi-layered approach to drowning prevention. However, traditional lines of defense break down, and the over 4,000 drowning deaths per year bear a grim testament to the fact that traditional approaches are missing a key component: the child. ISR’s core conviction is that the child is the most important part of a drowning prevention strategy and our over 300,000 ISR graduates and 800 documented survival stories are proof that children can save themselves. Children are curious, capable, and have an uncanny ability to overcome obstacles like pool fences; at ISR we take that ability and teach them skills to potentially save themselves if they find themselves in the water alone.
Drowning prevention tips:
Survival swimming lessons: Sometimes even the best precautions can end in tragedy. The last and most important line of defense against childhood drowning is teaching our infants and young children how to survival swim. If your child does find himself alone in the pool or body of water, his survival swimming skills could save his life. Keep these guidelines in mind when choosing a swimming program:
I hope I've helped educate you and your family. If you have further questions about our program or water safety feel free to contact me at 863-409-7221
Certified ISR Instructor
Founded in 1966 by Dr. Harvey Barnett, ISR is now the global leader in the industry it pioneered: survival swimming lessons for infants and young children. Our team of nearly 450 highly trained ISR Instructors provides the safest and most effective survival swimming lessons available. The ISR Self-Rescue® instruction our students receive today is the product of over 45 years of research and achieves unparalleled results.
Today, our mission, “Not One More Child Drowns,” is the foundation of everything we do and is the driving force behind ISR’s employees, our independent ISR Instructors, and our major corporate partnerships. We believe the successful prevention of the leading cause of accidental death for children under the age of 4 in the U.S. will require a large group of caring and capable professionals whose sole focus is to save lives. To date, we have delivered more than 8,000,000 ISR Self-Rescue® lessons and saved more than 800 lives.
ISR believes pool fences, supervision, and pool alarms are important parts of a necessary multi-layered approach to drowning prevention. However, traditional lines of defense break down, and the over 4,000 drowning deaths per year bear a grim testament to the fact that traditional approaches are missing a key component: the child. ISR’s core conviction is that the child is the most important part of a drowning prevention strategy and our over 300,000 ISR graduates and 800 documented survival stories are proof that children can save themselves. Children are curious, capable, and have an uncanny ability to overcome obstacles like pool fences; at ISR we take that ability and teach them skills to potentially save themselves if they find themselves in the water alone.
Drowning prevention tips:
- Constant supervision is the only sure way to prevent drowning. However, on occasion supervision can break down. If you cannot find your child, check the pool first - seconds count.
- Never leave your child alone in the bathtub or pool - not even for a second.
- Do not leave the pool to answer the phone - this is the foremost distraction and is commonly stated as why the baby was left unattended - for just a second. Unfortunately that is enough time for disaster. Bring a portable phone to the pool, install a phone jack by the pool or ignore the call. Your child is more important.
- NEVER USE FLOTATION DEVICES! These devices lend a false sense of security to you and your child. Studies reveal that parents whose children use flotation do not watch their children closely. In addition, the posturing these devices develop is detrimental to learning true swimming skills that could save their life. Simply resist the urge and DON'T DO IT!
- Leave a responsible ADULT in charge of safety. Do not delegate this task to an older sibling. This is too much responsibility and many children have drowned with their older sibling -watching them in the pool.
- Never assume someone else is watching your child. If you and your spouse are by the pool delegate supervision to one person and then switch off.
- Maintain a safer home pool environment:
- Every backyard pool, pond or lake should be completely fenced. The side of the house DOES NOT count as a fourth side. The point is, there must be a barrier between your house and the pool. Install pool fencing specifically designed to keep children out or install a permanent fence around all four sides. Pay special attention to pet doors as children are small enough to get out the pet door.
Install high locks with chimes on every door and window and consider getting a pool alarm. The goal is to put as many barriers as possible between your child and the pool. - Do not leave chairs, ladders or other objects near the pool that would allow a child to climb the fence.
- Make sure all windows of your house provide a clear view of the pool so you could easily spot a child who made his way to the pool unattended.
- Keep the pool clean. Cloudy or murky water can be a hazard.
- Water levels should be 3-4 inches from the top to make climbing out easier.
Survival swimming lessons: Sometimes even the best precautions can end in tragedy. The last and most important line of defense against childhood drowning is teaching our infants and young children how to survival swim. If your child does find himself alone in the pool or body of water, his survival swimming skills could save his life. Keep these guidelines in mind when choosing a swimming program:
- Question everything about the program, the instructor's qualifications and what specific skills will be learned.
- Be sure your child will learn how to swim with head in the water, turn on his back to float, rest and breathe and then flip back over to a swim. The sequencing of skills is key to get your child to safety.
- Make sure all lessons are one-on-one. NEVER enroll in a program where the instructor must divide time in the water between several unskilled students.
- Be sure your instructor can thoroughly explain hyponatremia (water intoxication) to you. Ask what precautions are taken before and during the lesson to avoid this potentially dangerous situation.
- Do not allow your child to be worked with for longer than 10 minutes.
- Do not enroll in any swimming program before your child is 6 months old and never enroll in a program that uses flotation devices.
- Finally, never believe that ANYONE is ever drown-proofed by any lessons or skill level. No one is ever drown-proofed and constant supervision in and around the water is the only sure way to prevent drowning.
I hope I've helped educate you and your family. If you have further questions about our program or water safety feel free to contact me at 863-409-7221
