Arkansas drowning prevention

Closing the “Towel Gap” in bath-time safety.

An Arkansas-based 501(c)(3) building drowning-prevention education and practical safety tools for babies, toddlers, and the families who care for them — focused on the routine moments where risk is highest.

The gap we close
91%

of bathtub submersion incidents involved a caregiver who intended to supervise.

24%

were actually engaged in supervising at the moment it happened.

Johnson et al., Injury Epidemiology (2025)

Arkansas snapshot

Arkansas Infant & Child Death Review reporting for deaths occurring in 2023 documents 12 unintentional drowning deaths among infants and children. Most occurred in open water, with a smaller — but operationally important — fraction in pool-or-bathtub settings.

12
Arkansas unintentional drowning deaths among infants & children, 2023
17%
Occurred in a pool or bathtub
83%
Occurred in open water

Source: Arkansas ICDR FY26 report (deaths in 2023)

Why bathtubs still matter — even when open water dominates

Infants: bathtub concentration

National NCHS surveillance reports that during 2018–2019, most unintentional drowning deaths among infants under age 1 occurred in bathtubs — about 75%.

Source: NCHS Data Brief 413

In-home drowning is often a bathtub event

CPSC reports nearly 90 children drown inside the home each year, two-thirds of them in the bathtub. A child can drown in as little as 2 inches of water — quickly, and silently.

Source: CPSC In-Home Drowning Safety Information Center

Our intervention

The Continuous-Contact Bath Safety System

CCBSS is a combined behavioral and wearable approach designed to reduce risk during the predictable interruptions that bath time always brings.

Touch-First Bath Protocol

1
Stage

Before the water is turned on, stage towels, diaper, clothes, and soap within arm’s reach.

2
Touch

Maintain continuous physical contact the entire time baby is in the tub.

3
Interruptions

Extract → Secure → Resolve. Remove baby from the water first. Every time.

Design evidence: Johnson et al. (2025)

Wearable concept

Seraph Safety Wrap

A rapid-securing, high-friction wrap intended to help caregivers stabilize a wet, slippery child after extraction — not for in-water use.

Important: any wearable that supports infant weight must be designed and tested to applicable carrier safety standards.

Watch

See the Touch-First protocol in under three minutes

The whole method fits inside one bath. Watch how staging, continuous contact, and the extract-first rule work together — then send it to the next caregiver who needs it.

0:00Why supervision fails in real homes
0:38Staging the bath before the water runs
1:24Extract → Secure → Resolve, demonstrated

Community partners

If you work in maternal health, home visiting, WIC-adjacent education, or pediatric safety, we’d like to coordinate distribution and training.

See sources & evidence
From a caregiver
“I always thought I was watching him. Then I counted how many times I turned around for a towel. Staging everything first took one extra minute and changed bath time completely.”
MR
Megan R.
Mother of two · Hot Springs, AR

Used the protocol?

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