The American Red Cross has been saving lives and reducing the drowning rate for more than 100 years. To celebrate that success, the organization launched its Aquatics Centennial Campaign in 2014 on the 100th anniversary of Commodore Wilbert Longfellow’s 33-year effort, which reduced the national drowning rate by 50%. Since 1914, when the American Red Cross added drowning prevention to its mission, the organization has helped reduce accidental drownings by nearly 90% nationwide.
In 2023, The Red Cross doubled the size of the Aquatic Centennial Campaign, which aims to reduce drowning rates in places where those rates are higher than the national average. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of May 2023, when the expansion of the program was announced, counties with Red Cross Centennial programs had seen a 10% decrease in drowning rates, compared with a 6% decrease nationally.
“When looking at a range of data points, we see a marked improvement in drowning rates versus the national average in those communities being served by the Aquatics Centennial Campaign,” said William Ramos, Ph.D., a member of the Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council and associate professor for the Indiana University’s School of Public Health. “It’s a source of pride to see our work contributing to achieving these results and to be able to extend the program based on our past success.”
The campaign aims to create “a sustainable ecosystem of water safety.” Some of the initiatives covered by the campaign include swim lessons for children and adults to ensure minimum water competency; developing lifeguards and Water Safety Instructors; water safety courses for parents and caregivers, and integrated into swim lessons; CPR/AED training; community outreach; and simply increasing the overall awareness of the importance of learning to swim and understanding water safety.
According to the Red Cross website, as of Dec. 31, 2022, since the campaign launched, it has:
- Delivered 121,775 sets of swim lessons to children and adults.
- Developed 1,981 future lifeguards through Junior Lifeguarding.
- Trained 1,506 lifeguards and lifeguard managers.
- Certified 1,126 people as Water Safety Instructors.
Equipped nearly 18,000 parents and caregivers with water safety knowledge and skills; nearly 700 of them received focused pediatric CPR/AED training.
To learn more about the campaign, visit www.redcross.org/take-a-class/swimming/centennial. RM
