Lifeguard Your Child
Every summer, Cook Children's is at the forefront of water safety and drowning prevention. Please take a look at some highlights of our current campaign.
State efforts:
Jillian Mitchell, Cook Children’s Drowning Prevention Program Coordinator within the Center for Community Health, is part of the Texas Water Safety Coalition’s leadership team. Jillian (pictured in the coral jacket) along with partners from across the state joined the press event in Austin, accepting Governor Abbott’s proclamation that May is Water Safety Month in Texas.
New LYC videos:
Our Marketing team worked closely with the Center for Community Health (C4CH) to ensure drowning prevention messaging was refreshed and on point for this year’s LYC Campaign.
In addition to these incredible videos, more can be found at www.lifeguardyourchild.org
Cook Children’s Loaner Life Jacket Stations:
Community partners across 13 counties are engaged with Cook Children’s Injury Prevention Collaborative and its drowning prevention strategies. This year, Cook Children’s loaner stations are being installed in Tarrant, Denton, Rockwall and Stephens counties. Cook Children’s commitment goes further, including stocking stations with loaner life jackets, this year totaling 1,860 USCG life jackets to area lakes.
2025 Loaner Stations:
- Lake Arlington-1
- Lake Worth-1
- Lake Ray Roberts-2
- Lake Ray Hubbard-2
- Hubbard Creek Reservoir-2
- Lake Lewisville- 1 (replacement)
Prevention Tool Distribution:
In addition to loaner stations, more than 3,000 USCG-approved life jackets were distributed to regional partners with the ability to fit children with a lifesaving prevention tool while in and around water.
Be part of the campaign by requesting a bag of Water Watcher Tags for patient families. Adults wear a Water Watcher Tag while guarding children in and around water. These tags, available in English and Spanish, make an adult accountable to stay alert, remain in-reach, and watch children in and around the water without distraction from people or electronic devices. The tag is a visual reminder that can be handed off to another adult after 10-15 minutes. If only one adult is present, the tag may prompt the adult to schedule swim breaks
Unique Partners:
Swim lessons are another Best Practice strategy that supports drowning prevention. The Injury Prevention Collaborative within C4CH supports children’s development of water skills through swim lessons. Over the years we have secured partnerships in Tarrant, Parker, Johnson, Wise, Young, and we are pleased to add Grayson County in 2025!
Educational Displays:
Cook Children’s Center for Community Health works closely with partners aligned with drowning prevention to rotate educational displays across Cook Children’s eight-county service area.
These new drowning awareness displays will be rotated to area YMCAs through mid-June, then to other key stakeholders across the region.
Exciting New Partnership
Our Center for Community Health is engaged in a new partner agreement with NRH20, which is directly related to Cook Children’s 2024-2027 Implementation Strategies supporting drowning prevention. The agreement runs through March 31, 2026, and provides families with access to water safety education, drowning prevention awareness, and prevention tools. In addition to Cook Children’s safety signs and PSAs, NRH20 is now stocked with more than 1,000 loaner life jackets for families to use while at the park. Cook Children’s employees can also enjoy a discount on tickets to the family water park.