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NDPA President, Johnny Johnson and NDPA President-Elect, Kim W. Tyson presented the award to Nancy Baker. Kim Patrick accepted the award on behalf of Nancy Baker.
Following is a letter Nancy sent to the NDPA and asked that we share it with all of the NDPA members.
April 3rd, 2008
Dear NDPA,
I was deeply honored when I returned home last week, after a spring vacation spent with my children, to find a package containing the Lighthouse Award with my name engraved in it. As well, my daughter’s name is on that award, in the context of The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act. I sincerely believe that the recognition goes to children, all of them and too many of them, who have lost their lives in drowning accidents.
I want to thank Kim Patrick for kindly agreeing to accept the award on my behalf. From the moment I met Kim, I felt a great kinship with her and was inspired by her strength and resolve in the wake of the loss of her beautiful child. We have walked the same path and I know that both of us are grateful to have found a way to make sense of the grief and to have discovered a sense of purpose in our children’s premature and tragic deaths.
My sincere thanks go to all of you, Maureen Williams, Johnny Johnson, the Board of Directors and most of all, the membership, of the National Drowning Prevention Alliance. I recognize that the NDPA has been working for years to protect children from drowning, something I only recently became involved in, and I have great respect for all of your efforts to promote safety on a local and national level. I hope that you will consider me a partner in those efforts and that I will have the privilege of working with you to ensure that all fifty states comply with the various layers of protection which the VGB Pool and Spa Safety Act requires. A time will come for the bill to be reauthorized and it is my hope that we will have shown great success in meeting the goal of safer building codes, effective education and awareness programs and fewer drowning incidences. At that time, in that context, I believe it is possible to strengthen the bill and to carry our shared goal of protecting children even further. Having heard early on that there would never be federal legislation regarding drowning prevention I am more convinced today than ever before that there is more to be done and no limit to what each of us can do to save precious lives.
I regret that I could not be with you in March due to family responsibilities. Please accept my gratitude and appreciation for having been recognized with this magnificent award. The light in that cut glass will shine even brighter if, in the days and weeks ahead, we can work together to make legislative strides within each state. I hope to see you next year, in Miami! God bless you all in your efforts to save children’s lives.
Sincerely,
Nancy
Jennifer Scharlach with Lower Colorado River Authority accepted the Lifesaver Award from NDPA President-Elect, Kim W. Tyson
This award was presented to LCRA and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for their “Nobody’s Waterproof” Campaign. Here are just some of reasons the NDPA felt LCRA and the Texas Parks and Wildlife were deserving of an NDPA Lifesaver Award.
The Nobody’s Waterproof Campaign targeted the most high-risk group in Texas for drowning – men ages 18-24 who recreate on Texas waters. The program began with a very smart, academic and thorough plan of development which included clear objectives and key messages, implementation, and an evaluation component. The campaign’s innovative social marketing strategy used water and land based events to reach the target audience on their terms and in their own environment where they are most approachable. They included a secondary target audience, of the target audience’s family and friends.
The campaign included outreach events – on land and on water – with fun promotional items and contest prizes to entice and engage the target audience that also reinforced the water safety messages such as life-jackets. They gave presentations to various community groups, utilized website contests, and garnered a statewide celebrity spokesperson who appealed to the target audience.
Printed materials were adapted to all ages and audiences. Pledge cards were signed to encourage long-term commitment to water safety. Media coverage was phenomenal to market the campaign’s messages – reaching over 3.4 million people. Camp counselors were trained in the campaigns messages and in turn spread the messages to thousands of children.
The NDPA sees the work of the LCRA and the Texas Parks and Wildlife as a great example of collaborative team-work, diligent planning, comprehensive social marketing strategies, solid evaluation methods, and most of all, for “keeping their eye on their target.
Javier Payan accepting the Lifesaver Award from NDPA President-Elect, Kim W. Tyson.
Javier was nominated by fellow IPSSA member, John Silcox. Here are just some of reasons we felt Javier was deserving of an NDPA Lifesaver Award
Javier is the Director of Region 7, the San Diego Chapter of IPSSA (the Independent Pool & Spa Service Association). IPSSA is the largest swimming pool service organization in the nation with over 3,600 members in CA, AZ NV, TX & FL. Together, these members service hundreds of thousands of residential and commercial swimming pools and spas.
Since Javier’s election as a regional director in 2004, he has taken a leadership role for IPSSA in promoting water safety and drowning prevention. He faced decades-long, entrenched position that drowning prevention outreach was counter-productive to the best interest of the pool industry. Despite these challenges, Javier convinced the IPSSA Board of Regional Directors to significantly increase the budget for water safety projects. He promoted the “Layers of Prevention” philosophy in such a manner that the majority of IPSSA members embraced it within their own businesses.
Javier has influenced the service and spa service businesses to distribute water watcher tags, water safety brochures to pool owners and pool supply stores across the country.
In the San Diego area, Javier has become the industry spokesperson for drowning prevention. His messages are consistent with best-practice recommendations. He has been quoted in trade publications, appeared in half-dozen local new programs, and recently produced a series of videos.
Javier Payan has proven through his hard work, gentle passion and passionate commitment that when it comes to promoting water safety and drowning prevention, he is “The Man.”
The NDPA sees Javier’s work as an example of taking the drowning prevention message to where it is needed the most for children’s safety – the backyards of pool-owners, and garnering interest and advocacy where others had failed before. |
