Safe kids starts life jacket loaner program

GRANT COUNTY - Swimmers and boaters throughout Grant County are getting access to life jackets for children through a new loaner program.

Grant County Health District coalition Safe Kids Grant County worked to start a loaner program at eight locations where drownings or near-drownings are most frequent. The program is funded by Paul Lauzier Charitable Foundation.

"We looked at our drowning data, and we looked at areas in Grant County that had a higher rate than others," said Safe Kids Coordinator Theresa Fuller.

So far, stations are installed at Sunland Estates, Blue Lake, Billy Clapp Lake and Connelly Park. They will also be available in two locations at Steamboat Rock, at Potholes Reservoir and at Coulee City Park.

At a press event Monday, the coalition, Grant County Sheriff's Office Marine Deputy Jon Melvin and couple Paul and Deanna White showcased the new station at Sunland Estates, located near Wanapum Dam.

Melvin said the sheriff's office is going to be responsible for checking on the station.

Seattle residents Paul and Deanna White supported the installation of the stations, moved by the July 14, 2005, death of their 2-year-old daughter Paris.

"We didn't want anyone else to have to go through what we had to go through," Deanna White said.

The couple's daughter was following her brother, then 4 years old, to their grandmother's home on the same property as their home. Paris stopped following him, but he did not know. She drowned in the family pool.

"She'd only been out of sight five minutes, if that," Deanna White said.

She said they knew they could not change what people did in their back yards.

"We had to find a way that we could help save lives, and we love the water, we love to boat, and we thought this was a way we could help save some lives," she said.

The couple met Melvin at a Washington State Drowning Prevention Network meeting. They learned a life jacket loaner program was being planned in Grant County, where they travel regularly for boating.

"You have no idea how excited I am about it," Paul White said.

Paul White said he and Deanna have pushed for the addition of kiosks in their own city and county, for more than two years. They are still working toward that goal.

Paul and Deanna White used funds from a foundation they established in their daughter's name, Paris White Foundation, to purchase several life jackets for the stations. Any jackets that go missing will be replaced through the foundation.

Melvin said the sheriff's office became involved and contacted Kittitas County, which had a similar program in place the past few years.

"We'd had an opportunity to talk with them and find out it does work," Melvin said.

The county indicated theft was not a major issue, and people donate their children's old life jackets to the program when they outgrow them.

Since 1990, there have been 66 drownings in Grant County related to recreation, Melvin said.

"Of those 66, only two of them were wearing life jackets," he said.

There were no drownings in Grant County in 2007, according to Fuller.

In addition to being cautious when boating, Melvin advised parents to be cautious with small children near canal systems. He said the water is swift, there are undertows and undercurrents, rebar may be exposed, and banks are slippery.

To purchase a wristband benefiting the Paris White Foundation, visit http://pariswhite.com.