A new device which uses an underwater camera and alert system has been designed to help stop drownings, like the one that changed the life of a Florida mother who has since become a swimming safety advocate.
Sophia Brizeus speaks with parents and schools about water safety, especially when it comes to small children.
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“I love to get people knowing the dangers, 'cause the water can be fun, but you also have to be safe around the water,” Brizeus said. "Drowning is silent. It's not like the movies [where] you're waving your arms around."
It’s a painful lesson she’s reminded of around this time every year.
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Her daughter, Soraya Stevens, drowned in a family swimming pool in July 2018 while at a family get-together. She was 23 months old.
“We were at my mom's house. It was Sunday,” Brizeus said. "I just heard screaming, and by the time I got out there, Soraya was already on the floor and one of my sister’s was performing CPR on her."
The toddler drowned one week before she was supposed to start her first swimming lesson.
It the type of tragedy the creators of a new AI-powered pool alarm say can strike at any moment. Which is why they created MYLO, a device that acts as a virtual lifeguard.
“It has the eyes of the lifeguard,” Jonathan Jacobovitz, the spokesperson for Coral Smart Pool, the company that sells the product, said. “It has the brains of a lifeguard.”
The device sends text alerts when someone is approaching or entering the pool. It also sets off an alarm in the pool and in the home if someone appears to be drowning.
“The essence of the device is to give you another layer of safety,” Jacobovitz said.
But it does not, of course, replace the current safety guidelines, such as fencing in a swimming pool, and assigning a "water watcher" to supervise swimmers.
The Florida Department of Children and Families reports 64 children have drowned in the state this year.
Ninety-nine drowned last year.
As painful as it is to talk about, Brizeus says telling her story of loss is worth it, if it helps save a life.
“I feel like Soraya didn’t pass in vain if my story can save one family from the tragedy that I’m going through everyday,” she said.
