BUFFALO - The pain over their daughter Lexi's drowning in the family pool is still surface raw, but Michael and Michelle Scalzi are not about to let a summer pass without working to spare other families the same grief.
The couple have made it their mission to equip all backyard pools with potentially lifesaving alarms that sound when a child enters the water unexpectedly.
Their efforts coincide with a new state law requiring pools built since Dec. 14, 2006, to have the technology.
“If we can help save one life, it's worth all the effort we're putting into this,” Michael Scalzi said Tuesday, a little less than a year after his 2-year-old daughter's death.
The Scalzis and their 14-year-old daughter raised $35,000 at a benefit in Lexi's name this spring and purchased pool alarms which they are now giving away to anyone who asks. More than 700 have been handed out so far.
Drowning is the second-leading cause of accidental death among children under 14, and the leading cause of accidental death among children ages 1 to 4, according to Safe Kids Worldwide, a nonprofit group dedicated to accident prevention.
On June 24, 2006, two months past her second birthday, Alexis Marie Scalzi wandered into the backyard of her family's Williamsville home and fell undetected into the in-ground pool. Her father found curly-haired, blue-eyed Lexi, but too late.
“What if there was an alarm? What if someone knew CPR? What if? What if? What if? These are questions that will haunt us all for the rest of our lives,” the family wrote on a Web site promoting “Lexi's Legacy,” the alarm giveaway being coordinated through three Buffalo-area Gary Pools stores.
“It's just a layer of protection,” Michael Scalzi said of the devices.
Under the state law, newly installed in- or above-ground pools more than two-feet deep must have an approved alarm that detects when anyone enters the water and sounds loudly enough to be heard elsewhere on the premises.
Alarms for in-ground pools can sell for $100 to several hundred dollars. Above-ground alarms retail for about $20 to $30.
In passing the law last year, New York joined Connecticut, Florida and California in requiring pool alarms.
Lexi's father still chokes up when he says his daughter's name or her birthday or talks about the upcoming anniversary of her death, but trying to prevent tragedies like his own is “therapy,” he said.
“It's really hard, but this is helping us,” he said quietly. “We miss her so much.”
On the Net
Lexi's Legacy: http://www.garypools.net/index.php?cPath192
Their efforts coincide with a new state law requiring pools built since Dec. 14, 2006, to have the technology.
“If we can help save one life, it's worth all the effort we're putting into this,” Michael Scalzi said Tuesday, a little less than a year after his 2-year-old daughter's death.
The Scalzis and their 14-year-old daughter raised $35,000 at a benefit in Lexi's name this spring and purchased pool alarms which they are now giving away to anyone who asks. More than 700 have been handed out so far.
Drowning is the second-leading cause of accidental death among children under 14, and the leading cause of accidental death among children ages 1 to 4, according to Safe Kids Worldwide, a nonprofit group dedicated to accident prevention.
On June 24, 2006, two months past her second birthday, Alexis Marie Scalzi wandered into the backyard of her family's Williamsville home and fell undetected into the in-ground pool. Her father found curly-haired, blue-eyed Lexi, but too late.
“What if there was an alarm? What if someone knew CPR? What if? What if? What if? These are questions that will haunt us all for the rest of our lives,” the family wrote on a Web site promoting “Lexi's Legacy,” the alarm giveaway being coordinated through three Buffalo-area Gary Pools stores.
“It's just a layer of protection,” Michael Scalzi said of the devices.
Under the state law, newly installed in- or above-ground pools more than two-feet deep must have an approved alarm that detects when anyone enters the water and sounds loudly enough to be heard elsewhere on the premises.
Alarms for in-ground pools can sell for $100 to several hundred dollars. Above-ground alarms retail for about $20 to $30.
In passing the law last year, New York joined Connecticut, Florida and California in requiring pool alarms.
Lexi's father still chokes up when he says his daughter's name or her birthday or talks about the upcoming anniversary of her death, but trying to prevent tragedies like his own is “therapy,” he said.
“It's really hard, but this is helping us,” he said quietly. “We miss her so much.”
On the Net
Lexi's Legacy: http://www.garypools.net/index.php?cPath192
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