I volunteer for a trauma intervention program. Police, fire fighters, er nurses call us to be with victims. I've been with a mom who's daughter had to have her stomach pumped, car accidents at the scene, suicide and with an elderly woman alone stood next to her as her husband passed as her family was on their way from San Diego.
My last call I went on was a 7 year old girl drowned in her family pool. They said she could swim. The dad was outside there cleaning the BBQ. The mother was in the kitchen feeding the younger sister, cleaning up. They told her to stay in the shallow end.
I can't explain what it was like to walk into their nightmare. Dishes all over the kitchen, pool lights on. I was called to be with the youngest daughter (5) as they jumped into the ambulance. I played with her (before any family could arrive). Police in the back yard. In the game room "where's my sister?" Then she took me to her bedroom that she shared with her sister. All her brownie stuff, her school stuff, it was like time stood still. Then the sister said "I don't think she's coming home." I was there when they came home and took her upstairs to tell her. The wailing is something I can never forget.
I cried for days. My daughter was 7 at the time. It was too much for me and I stopped.
Drowning is a silent killer.