The Prevent Drowning Foundation of San Diego recently partnered with the San Gabriel Pomona Regional Center (SGPRC) to develop a comprehensive drowning prevention campaign designed to bring important water safety information and resources to the families and communities they serve.
At the heart of the campaign is Olly the Sea Lion, SGPRC’s new water safety ambassador. Friendly, approachable and always ready with an important safety message, Olly was created to help make water safety education engaging and accessible for children and families.
Water Safety Education for the Whole Family
The campaign focuses on practical layers of protection families can use to help prevent drowning, including blocking access to pools and open water, constant supervision, learning to swim and developing water competency, wearing a life jacket while boating, and knowing CPR with rescue breaths.
To help reach more families, water safety resources were developed in both English and Spanish, including educational cards, posters, banners and community outreach materials.
Bringing Local Drowning Data Into the Conversation
An important part of the project was making the campaign relevant to the community it serves.
Using Los Angeles County drowning data, campaign materials highlight both fatal and nonfatal drowning among children and young adults. The goal is to help families understand that drowning can impact every community—and that prevention matters at every age.
Taking the Message Into the Community
The campaign was designed to extend beyond printed materials, giving SGPRC resources that can be used at community events, through social media and in ongoing water safety education.
Olly helps bring those pieces together with a simple, family-friendly message:
Protecting every child, every family—with every splash.
For PDFSD, this collaboration provided an opportunity to take the drowning prevention knowledge and resources we have developed through our work in San Diego and help another community build a water safety campaign tailored to its families.
We are grateful to SGPRC for the opportunity to collaborate on this important project and for their commitment to helping families be safer in and around the water.
Together, we can make every splash a safe splash.
