Like every summer in France, many people will take advantage of the seaside, a lake or even a private swimming pool to swim and cool off, but an accident quickly happened. And this accident can be fatal.
In 2021, of the 1,480 accidental drownings recorded by Public Health France, 27% of them resulted in death. So to prevent these accidents from happening, 20 Minutes interviewed Emeline Pignot, a first aid trainer from Civil Protection, who gives you all the first aid gestures to know in the event of drowning.
Dive to get the person out of the water?
If you are a good swimmer and the conditions allow it, you can try to dive to get the drowning person out of the water. Try to take a flotation device with you, because when rescuing this person they may panic and lean on you, which could put you in difficulty. If you are not a good swimmer or the conditions do not allow it, do not dive and instead call the emergency services by calling 15, 18 or 112.
What to do when the person is out of the water?
If you take an unconscious victim out of the water, you will have to differentiate between an unconscious victim who is breathing and an unconscious victim in cardiopulmonary arrest. If she is breathing, she will have to be put in the lateral safety position and call the emergency services. If the victim is no longer breathing, you should start your resuscitation by doing chest compressions and call 15, 18 or 112.