Letter to the Editor: Too Many Drownings

Every summer we see the same grim news: Drownings occur in our natural bodies of water and pools in Vermont. An accidental death has a ripple effect — to the larger community and the family, the parks system, and the public safety teams involved. You cannot deny the reality of these news stories: The victims are usually of color. “Pinky,” an eighth-grade African American Vermonter, drowned one year ago at Windsor’s Kennedy Pond. And now we have Yazmin and Sandro, who won’t make it to old age after drowning in the Lamoille River [“Always Together: Cambridge Mourns Ecuadorian Siblings Yazmin Yupangui and Sandro Lala, Whose Bond Defined Their Lives Until the Very End,” July 15]. I served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Ecuador, and most citizens there never learn to swim or enter deep water.

Most drownings are among non-white people. As a pediatrician, for me this grim statistic represents the nail in the coffin for inequity in health and injury prevention. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black children ages 10 to 14 are 3.6 times more likely to drown compared to their white counterparts, and those 5 to 9 years old are 2.6 times more likely. We also see many near-drowning-related preventable emergency department visits, driving up health care costs.

Teaching 5- to 7-year-olds — and older Vermonters who don’t know how — to swim through schools and community recreation pools is a worthy public health action. It connects educational centers, the private sector, nonprofits, and community-based pools and gyms. There is a major return on investment.

Elizabeth Hunt

CHARLOTTE

Seven Days, August 12, 2026