INFANT SWIMMING LESSONS AND POOL FENCES

I was certified as an infant swimming instructor in 2001. I had taken a leave of absence from my elementary school teaching position when my son was born in 2000. We built a swimming pool and I was determined to have all of my bases covered with regards to pool safety. The first thing we did was enroll my son, Brady, in Infant Swimming Resource lessons. When the pool deck was completed we also had a pool safety fence installed. I then decided to become an instructor and to promote pool safety.

One of the first questions that I ask every single family that inquires about swimming lessons is 'DO YOU HAVE A POOL SAFETY FENCE?" I also ask whether any other caregiver has a pool and whether that pool has a pool fence. Parents often tend to forget that accidents can happen at anyone's house - grandparents, uncles and aunts, etc. Many of my students were brought to me because they had already fallen into the pool. These parents will tell you time and time again that they did not hear a sound. They turned around and their child was sinking to the bottom of the pool. I instruct every client to enroll their child in swimming lessons as well as having a Pool Guard safety fence installed. Even after completing the swimming lessons a child could slip and hit their head while playing beside the pool. You just never know. You can never be too cautious with your most precious possession. All of the swimming instructors in my area promote pool safety fences. We have worked with parents who have lost a child due to a drowning. These parents wish every single day that they had taken every safety precaution that was available.

As distributors of Pool Guard pool fences Brian and I try our very best to educate parents on the importance of installing a pool safety fence. As distributors of Pool Guard we know that we're installing the safest pool fence available. Drowning prevention -- that is what we're all about.

Submitted by:

Kathy & Brian Rolison
Pool Guard of North Florida

Pool Safety and Cost Savings

Here in Palm Beach County we recently installed a pool fence for a customer with two college age children; however, they lost their screen enclosure over their pool when Hurricane Wilma hit Palm Beach County. The customer's insurance did not even cover half of what a new screen enclosure would have cost. For several months the customer's Home Owners' Association had been threatening the customer with fines if he did not either fence in his pool or replace the screen enclosure. He had Pool Guard of Palm Beach County give him a quote to put a pool safety fence around the perimeter of his swimming pool deck. It literally cost the customer one quarter of the price to put a swimming pool safety fence around the pool as opposed to the cost of an aluminum perimeter fence. The customer decided to go with Pool Guard and have a pool fence installed and is very happy that he did. The pool fence did not obstruct his view of the lake and even more importantly, it can be removed if another hurricane hits. The customer's Home Owners' Association is happy and the customer says THANKS POOL GUARD!!

Submitted by Ray Pagano,
Pool Guard of Palm Beach County

A TRAGIC DROWNING - THIS ONE REALLY HITS HOME

A few weeks ago a 14 month old baby boy drowned in his grandparents' backyard swimming pool in Clearwater, Florida. This drowning made the local news and of course, as does every senseless drowning, made me shake my head because I know, as the manufacturer of pool safety fences, that every drowning is avoidable. Just yesterday I ran into an acquaintance and during the course of our conversation she told me that her nephew had recently passed away. Shocked, I asked her what happened and she told me that he drowned in his grandparents' swimming pool in Clearwater. That's when I realized that this is the baby I heard about on the news. There was no swimming pool fence around the swimming pool and there were many people at the house that tragic afternoon. No one person was designated to watch the baby and he slipped out the back door and fell into the pool. No adult realized he was missing until it was too late. This is such a senseless and unnecessary death....a pool safety fence would have saved this baby's life. The family is completely devastated and they have now had the pool filled in with concrete so that they're not reminded every day of the spot where little Jake died.

Over the years I've read about tragic drownings hundreds of times and worked on pool safety committees to bring awareness of the importance of a swimming pool safety fence to swimming pool owners, as well as those people who own a pool and have small children visit the house often. This is the first time, and hopefully the last, that the victim will be related to someone I know. My heartfelt condolences go out to the family of this baby and my hope is, as always, that people will realize that they can make their pools safe and secure by placing a pool fence around the pool.

Pool Guard of Puerto Rico

As the owner of the franchise The Real Estate Books Of Puerto Rico, Maria takes a personal interest in communication and advertising results for her advertising customers. "We are very selective about what products and services we allow to advertise in our books. They have to be related directly to real estate or home improvement". Maria went on to say that she is very happy to have Pool Guard of Puerto Rico as a long term advertising partner. "We feel we are able to make available to homeowners in Puerto Rico the top of the line quality pool fence system and we feel we are helping to keep children in Puerto Rico safe and make parents aware of the availability of pool safety fencing on the island." Maria says the President of Pool Guard of Puerto Rico, Marisela Montes, is very happy with our exclusive advertising agreement along with the results The Real Estate Book provides for Pool Guard, Puerto Rico's premier swimming pool safety fence and swimming pool net company.

Marisela Montes
Pool Guard of Puerto Rico

Pool Fence Installation on Thin Pavers

Recently I met with a customer who had been told by several competing pool safety fence companies that a pool fence was not an option for them because their pool builder used thin pavers in the construction of their pool deck. Thin pavers when installed over soil or crushed concrete are not stable enough to safely hold a pool fence in place when using standard installation methods. The other companies apparently lacked the skill or knowledge level necessary to recommend an advanced installation method utilized by Pool Guard for just this type of situation.

Pool Guard's method for this type of installation reinforced the entire installation, making it sturdy, safe and aesthetically pleasing. The customer was extremely happy, passed their pool inspection with flying colors and ended up writing a positive review of their experience with Pool Guard on Angie's List. Angie's List is a website that rates area service companies. Pool Guard of Tampa Bay currently has a perfect "A" rating. Pool Guard of Tampa Bay also has a perfect rating with the Better Business Bureau.

Kevin Post
Pool Guard of Tampa Bay

All American Backyard Concepts - My First Home Show

The weekend of October 5-6-7 was an unusually sunny one for Northern California. On Thursday, the 4th, I joined my dad (and business partner!) at the Pleasanton Fairgrounds, site of the fall 2007 Alameda County Home Show. We were meeting Kevin, the guy who was helping us set up our backdrop. "You gotta have a good backdrop," my dad told me, "or else no one's even gonna look at your booth." Kevin showed up with two helpers in tow; they were dragging along what looked like a huge oil drum. It turned out to be the container for our rented backdrop. While we chatted with Kevin, his two assistants opened the drum and started pulling out all kinds of crazy parts. Within minutes, they were done; Kevin and I had barely finished shaking hands.

As Kevin was leaving, Kari came rushing up to us. "Vern!" she called out to my dad, a huge grin plastered across her face. "You're here ahead of schedule! What's wrong?" Tucking her clipboard under her arm, the event coordinator turned to me. "You must be the son I've heard about! How are you, dear? You're obviously doing a good job already--usually Vern scrambles around at the last minute trying to get everything together!" My dad had told me that everyone loved Kari, now I understood why. She bubbled with enthusiasm, clearly loving her job, and making the sometimes mundane act of setting up a home show seem like one heck of a good time.

On Friday, when the show started, we positioned ourselves in front of our backdrop, smiling proudly beneath our new "Pool Guard" banner. Enlarged photos of past installations lined our booth, drawing patrons in with their gorgeous colors of the pools and the clean, straight lines of the fences. I did a lot of listening that day, taking mental notes on how my dad talked to people, letting them know the wonders of the see-thru mesh and removable poles. I heard him extol the virtues of the self-closing gate, with its magnetic locking mechanism, and watched as people began to comprehend the value of the Pool Guard system. I took down a lot of leads that day, with my eyes on the coming weeks, and the many sales calls we'd be heading out on.

The rest of the weekend was kind of a blur; I remember six-dollar hot dogs, and the pretty girl at the next booth who was helping her dad sell real estate. At some point I had to buy myself gel inserts for my shoes in an attempt to ease my aching feet, but it was a good kind of ache, coming as it did from meeting so many wonderful people and helping them take a small step towards protecting their children.

In two weeks, we'll be heading out to our next home show, this time in Concord; we've got some new photos to display and an even better backdrop this time around. Now that I know how much fun it is, I can't wait to do it all again -- but this time I've got a cooler so I can bring my own lunch! If you're in Northern California, come on down to the home show and stop by booth 198 to say hello--we'll be the father and son in matching All American shirts. We're looking forward to seeing you!

My First Home Show
by Scout Davidson
All American Backyard Concepts (San Francisco Bay Area)