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Who is Karen Cohn? Mom who lost son, 6, to drowning shares POWERFUL message on water safety

Cohn founded The ZAC Foundation after she lost her son Zachary in a tragic drowning incident to spread awareness about water safety
PUBLISHED JUL 29, 2022
Karen Cohn said that she lost her 6-year-old son in a tragic drowning incident after the family moved into a new house with a pool in 2007 (Karen Cohn/Facebook)
Karen Cohn said that she lost her 6-year-old son in a tragic drowning incident after the family moved into a new house with a pool in 2007 (Karen Cohn/Facebook)

Karen Cohn, a Connecticut native, is spreading awareness about swimming and water safety, fifteen years after her son tragically drowned. Drowning is the leading cause of death for children aged between one and four, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

As summer is just around the corner, the American Academy of Pediatrics is "urging families and caregivers to provide swim lessons" as pools start to reopen following pandemic shutdowns in the last two years.

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According to Cohn, her second child Zachary used to get "super happy" whenever he got the opportunity to play in the water. Zachary was six years old when the family moved into a new house with a pool in 2007.

While speaking to Good Morning America, Cohn said, "The house was a new house with a new pool and proper fencing was in place and there were alarms on the doors leading outside and we really made sure that the kids were closely supervised when they were swimming."

Cohn continued, "Unfortunately, we had no idea about drain entrapments, what a drain entrapment was," adding, "We had no idea that it was even a risk in a pool. Never heard of it before." Drains in pools help in cleaning and circulation of water. However, if a drain cover is missing or becomes loose, it could lead to unsafe conditions.

Talking about the same, Cohn said, "The cover had become loose over one of the drains in our pool and my son Zachary's arm became stuck in it, and he was held underneath the water and we could not get him out." The family shut the power down to release him, but Zachary could not survive.

The family was devastated after Zachary’s death but it spurred Cohn and her husband Brian to start The ZAC Foundation in memory of their son.

Karen Cohn founder, The Zac Foundation (Karen Cohn twitter/The Zac Foundation facebook)
Karen Cohn is the founder of The Zac Foundation (Karen Cohn/Twitter and The Zac Foundation/Facebook)

The organization's website reads that it is "dedicated to improving water safety by funding advocacy, education and effective programming to safeguard children and their families."

Working towards a safer future

In 2021, Cohn launched a podcast called 'Keeping Kids Safe' to educate more parents during the pandemic with episodes titled 'Data Driven Solutions for Drowning Prevention' and 'From Family Tragedy to Positive, Lasting Change'.

Today, Cohn works toward teaching parents and the public about water safety, whether it's at a pool, at the beach, or simply in one's own backyard. She said, "We always say it's not a lack of supervision. Parents are busy, and especially now that they're working from home in many cases, it's a lapse of supervision." She added, "We just want to remind parents to be thinking about this, especially as it gets warmer and we're going to be spending more time going into the water."

Cohn's message is to let people know that "swimming is joyful." However, she added, "We want families to have fun in the water. But we also want them to be educated about the risks that exist."

Currently, Cohn serves as a NE Trustee of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and her work has been featured in national media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, CNN, and Fox News, to name a few.

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