Raleigh company creates technology to guard against drownings

A Triangle company that guards against drownings is making a big splash as the summer comes to an end.

SEAL Innovation, Inc., a company we previewed in a “What’s Next” segment two years ago, just received word the YMCA in Raleigh will be using their SwimSafe technology.

“The problem is people don’t know their child is drowning,” said Dr. Graham Snyder.

WNCN first spoke with Snyder in late 2013 as he was developing the swimming technology designed to stop drownings.

His SEAL SwimSafe system was born out of first-hand experience trying to save drowning victims brought to WakeMed.

“I wanted to find a solution for that because I hear this repetitive story of how it happens and I wanted to give the parents and the lifeguard a warning if in that rare instance a swimmer went under water and was not seen,” said Snyder.

While the idea is simple, the technology is complex.

“What the system does is it tracks continuously the status of the swimmer inside the swim band which is worn by the swimmers,” he said.

Users simply turn on the hub and then set the swim level on a band between toddler to teen. A guard band is worn by parents or lifeguards.

Snyder said that as good as the technology is, it’s not a replacement for a watchful eye.

“It’s a technology that tells the status of a swimmer…If they’re above water or underneath the water,” he said.

If the technology can stop even one drowning then it will have been worth the seven years he’s it took to develop it, Snyder said.

See WNCN

https://youtu.be/iedOLMO_42o