The World's Most Costly with Matt Preston
What could make this pizza the World's Most Costly? Matt Preston finds out. This video, made for Royal Life Saving, aims to educate to help prevent child drownings.
Matt Preston is suited up and smiling for the camera. "Hello, and welcome to the World's Most Costly," he says, walking down an elaborate staircase.
He leans over a home cooked pizza. "Lovely crispy base, oozy mozzarella and artisan ham – smells delicious too!"
"Good, but not exactly special. So what could make this pizza the World's Most Costly?" he asks.
That's when we see the swimming pool behind him, and Preston reaches the sobering punch line: "The truth is that last summer 14 children drowned in Australian backyard swimming pools – most often due to everyday distractions, like going inside to check the oven.
"There's no splash, no cry for help, and in less than 60 seconds a child can drown.
"The true cost of that pizza becomes a child's life."
'The World's Most Costly' campaign is the work of Royal Life Saving, and is part of a new education program that aims to bring an end to complacency around backyard swimming pools.
It comes during a week when one toddler drowned and another was critically injured in two separate incidents in private pools in NSW.
"We're hoping that the shock element will be like giving parents a shake of the shoulders to say 'please take note of these key messages'," NSW Operations Manager Michael Ilinsky told Essential Baby.
"This is the difference between having a wonderful summer or having the most tragic summer of your entire life."
Ilinsky hopes that the video will show that the smallest things like answering the door, responding to an oven timer or changing a baby's nappy can distract parents and lead to a drowning.
He says that many families who have swimming pools become complacent because the pool is part of the furniture. "Unfortunately it is a part of the furniture that has the capacity to take a life or to lose a child to significant brain injury," he says.
The most important factor of pool safety, Ilinsky notes, is supervision. "A supervised child doesn't drown. It's the distractions that take us away from our children that have led to so many deaths in the last decade," he explains.
It is also important to note that even older children who may be confident swimmers still requite supervision.
"There could be an injury, a head clash, a fall. Anything can catch a kid off guard and cause them to become fully submerged and take in water.
"It is critically important that we are always there supervising. Never leave them alone."
Newcastle mum Belinda Hedley knows just how quickly an incident can happen. She came close to losing her twin boys at a family gathering, when they were two and a half years old.
"In those split seconds of us turning our back, we almost lost our twin boys. We found them face down in the pool, and thankfully we knew how to resuscitate them, so we still have them today," she said.
"My message to all parents out there is to keep watch, no matter what."
Keep the kids safe
Pool owners and parents are encouraged to always actively supervise kids when using the household pool, using the below guide to assure safety.
• Be prepared: Always make sure you have everything ready when going swimming e.g. towels, goggles, dry clothes, drinking water
• Be close: Always be within arm's reach of your child/children
• All of your attention: Focus all of your attention on your child/children and watch, talk and play with them when they are in the water
• All of the time: Never leave your child alone in the water, nor should they be left in the care of an older chil