As told by Laura Metro, the founder of CPR Party™

 

"Around 11 AM on June 18, 2011, our three-year-old son Clay almost died by drowning in a pool. Our friends were watching he and our six-year-old daughter Maison, while my husband and I took a jog. We were in Bethany Beach, DE on vacation and dog sitting for my father. We arrived on the scene to our daughter running out of the pool screaming, "I think Clay died!" "I think Clay died!"

 

We ran into the pool to find Clay, laying on the pool deck, blue, lifeless, with no breath or heartbeat. Our friend was doing "his version" of CPR, pretty much what he'd seen on TV. The paramedics arrived. They got his heart beat back, intubated Clay on the scene, shot IVs into his knees and started hypothermia treatment. Clay and I were medivac to Nemours Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, DE. My husband and our friend, who performed the CPR, drove two hours in silence to the hospital. Clay was in a coma for two days. Then he woke!

Clay made a miraculous recovery attributed to bystander CPR. You can breathe now."

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This is not the typical outcome for this story. In fact, for every death by drowning, there are eight non-fatal drowning events.  These children and adults usually sustain brain injuries that require lifetime medical care. As a result, families are destroyed emotionally and financially. The total cost of non-fatal drowning is $6.2 billion annually and it's totally preventable.  

 

Since its inception in 2012,  CPR Party™ (a program of The Clay Foundation 501C3) has made a significant mark bringing CPR awareness training to the masses and in the drowning prevention space. We hosted the DC area’s first ever World’s Largest Swimming Lesson and launched our one hour #CPRParty program on a national level. In 2015, we trademarked and made our flagship CPR training format, the CPRParty™, the sole mission of the foundation.  CPRParty™ is growing and changing again in 2019 by introducing the sale of CPRParty™ Training Kits! Proceeds go to CPRParty™ to provide FREE kits to those in need.

 

CPRParty™ continues to raise awareness of the public health epidemic of drowning through our nationwide public relations efforts, founding membership in Families United To Prevent Drowning @nochilddrowns , our work with the Michael Phelps Foundation  @mpfoundation  official partnership and the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) @PoolSafely Laura Metro, Founder of CPRParty™ is an active board member of the National Drowning Prevention Alliance (NDPA) @drownalliance and sponsors the NDPA's annual conference, the only conference dedicated to drowning prevention.