Child Safety Source

We're already 3 weeks into our new format and things are getting interesting! Eric and Rich had another thoughtful conversation chock full of insights about the strange times we live in. Highlights this week include:

Why are scientists so bad at communicating?
Are you wearing a mask for yourself?
Are we ever going to hake hands again?
Has your family "adjusted" to quarantine life?
How can non-profits keep afloat with so many out of work?

Plus, how Rich got the big idea that launched his foundation, and one big idea Eric came up with on the spot!

We're excited to present a new episode of the Child Safety Source, now with a new format! Joining our own Eric Lupton is Rich Specht of Cultivate Kindness: The ReesSpecht Life Foundation as our new co-host. We hope that you enjoy this pleasant and positive conversation as much as we did!

Check back for more episodes on Thurday afternoons.

Gordon Giesbrecht, Ph.D. is a professor of Thermophysiology and Associate Dean in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management, at the University of Manitoba. Gordon studies human responses to exercise/work in extreme environments and has been funded by NSERC since 1993. He has conducted hundreds of cold water immersion studies that have provided life-saving information about physiology and pre-hospital care for human hypothermia. He has also conducted over 100 vehicle submersions with people in them, to study survival and exit strategies in sinking vehicles. He has over 100 publications, and helped create instructional educational programs, such as Beyond Cold Water Boot Camp and written protocols used by Emergency Response Operators around the world. 

 On this Child Safety Source episode, we'll be talking to our first returning guest, Alissa Magrum!

Alissa Magrum is the Executive Director of Colin's Hope. Colin’s Hope was formed in 2008 after 4 year old Colin Holst tragically drowned in a public pool, with lifeguards on duty and family members present. Their mission is to raise water safety awareness to prevent children from drowning. Drowning is the number 1 cause of accidental death for children under 5 and a leading cause for ages 1-14. While no-one is drownproof, drowning IS preventable. 

 Scott is the Program Director - Safety Around Water for the Florida Alliance of YMCAs Foundation. He has been a YMCA leader for over 10 years in communications, membership, and aquatics at Florida YMCAs around the state. He has also served on state & national task forces around safety, aquatics, & advocacy. He currently serves as the facilitator of WaterSmart FL, the state drowning prevention task force. 

 Kathleen Wilson is founder and owner of SwimCalm, an innovative program that teaches adults with fear of water how to swim. This life altering program combines the mental and physical, proving to the student that the water is a friendly medium and it is well within their capacity to learn to be comfortable in any depth of water and swim. The program enjoys an extremely high rate of success among its graduates due to its premise of healing fear rather than simply managing fear. When not teaching a SwimCalm class, Kathleen Wilson is an internationally known and highly experienced marathon swimmer with a world class resume of swims. She teaches and coaches aquatics at the Medical University of South Carolina’s Student Wellness center. She is the creator and race director for the annual Swim Around Charleston, a 12 mile open water swim event held in early fall each year and several swims registered in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame as firsts. Kathleen was enshrined into the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame in May, 2018. When not in the water, Kathleen is a conservatory-trained professional harpist, holding a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music and has been principal harpist with the Charleston Symphony since 1987. She also holds an adjunct teaching positions at both the College of Charleston and Charleston Southern University while maintaining a busy schedule of providing music for special events. She also served the city of Charleston as a three term councilmember for the city of Charleston, representing District 12 and acting as Mayor Pro Tempore in 2008. She is a recipient of the Order of the Palmetto, the highest honor a citizen of South Carolina may receive and is a 2010 Liberty Fellow. 

 A lifelong swimmer and advocate for water safety, Nate Tschohl has been around water his entire life. The son of a retired United States Coast Guard Captain, he grew up with a keen sense of the importance of water safety while living near the Great Lakes, Atlantic Ocean, and the Gulf of Mexico. His passion for swimming and drowning prevention led him to volunteering for the Virginia Special Olympics, the Josh Project, and ultimately toward raising water safety awareness via International Water Safety Day (IWSD).

Tschohl has reached thousands in his quest to teach water safety education. Tschohl has led learn-to-swim projects in his local community and beyond. In 2014, he helped run a learn to swim program on the remote Maldivian island of Eydafushi which was captured and documented in Jon Bowermaster’s documentary, “Sink or Swim: Learning the Crawl in the Maldives”. The program has continued to this day.

A graduate of Old Dominion University where he was a two time Captain for their Division I varsity swim team. He went on to become Old Dominion’s Assistant Men’s and Women’s Swim Coach as well as the Senior Head Coach for Tidewater Aquatic Club for several years. Tschohl is currently the President & CEO of Swimnerd which builds Bluetooth programmable pace clocks for the swimming industry. He resides in Virginia Beach, Virginia with his wife Carly and their two beloved mutts, Tim & Fran.

 Annette Courtney and Christi Brown of the Judah Brown Project are our guests for this episode. The Judah Brown Project is a non-profit committed to reducing the number of drownings each year. 

Jamie Goetsch spent 30 years in the computer software industry. In that time he worked for large worldwide companies and small startups. He saw several major technology disruptions and new technology adoption cycles in that time. Several years ago he was introduced to the size and scope of the drowning problem. He was at first shocked by the facts. He, like most people, did not know that it is the number one cause of unintentional death in 1-4 yrs, and number two 5-15. As he learned more, and especially after his first NDPA yearly meeting, he began to understand and internalize the huge societal cost and the crushing, but incalculable, pain and suffering that drowning causes year after year. The opportunity to bring a proven technology to the US market that can add an additional layer of safety to pools, and help reduce death and injury from drowning, has been gratifying.