Drowning Prevention – The Kimberly Esau Story

Kimberly L. Esau fought back tears as she described the harrowing experience of watching her 5-year-old daughter, Kitasha, nearly drown in the pool. Esau, a mother of three, was standing next to Kitasha on the pool deck and had turned her back for a few seconds when the little girl slipped underwater. Panicked, Esau jumped into the pool to save her daughter.

“I didn’t know how to swim,” Esau said during a five-minute video produced by Channel 20’s Edward Carr. “All I knew is that I had to get my baby out of that water.”

The video, titled “The Kimberly Esau Story,” was recently nominated by the Suncoast Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for the 2007 Suncoast Regional Emmy Awards. Carr’s video will compete in the Societal Concerns category along with 12 other entries.

In the video, Carr re-creates Esau’s experience by illustrating her words with pictures. As Esau narrates, the photographer’s perspective angles show the scene through Esau’s eyes – running along the pool’s edge, jumping into the water and sinking to the bottom.

Carr’s video underscores the need for parents to teach their kids how to swim. After her experience, Esau signed her daughter up for swimming lessons through Palm Beach County’s Drowning Prevention Coalition (DPC).

In the video’s closing scene, Kitasha Esau, a student at the Elementary School of the Arts, grins and says, “I learned how to dive and I learned how to swim!”

The coalition, aimed at raising awareness about water safety, was established in 1996 as a community-based organization supported by 30 local agencies, including the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners, the Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County and Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue. The DPC’s mission is to promote, develop, and support training and community education efforts that prevent drowning, near drowning, and other water-related accidents in Palm Beach County.

The Suncoast Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences is a nonprofit Florida corporation dedicated to excellence in television. The 2007 Suncoast Emmy Awards is open to television markets in Florida and portions of Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia and Puerto Rico. The awards ceremony will be held on Saturday, December 1, 2007 at the Gaylord Palms Resorts in Kissimmee, Florida.

To watch “The Kimberly Esau Story” video, visit www.pbcgov.com/dpc and click on “Drowning Prevention Story” video on the left-hand side.