PPCD Members: California
Allison is an Emergency Room nurse and has 2 young children. She will be assisting PPCD spread materials and awareness in California. She wants to help prevent this tragedy from happening to parents.
I was enjoying a retired life until one day, my grandson 1 1/2 yr old fell in the pool tricycle and all!! By the time my daughter and I reached him, he was smiling and floating on his back! Only in ISR for 3 weeks. That moment changed my life forever!! I became a instructor to make a difference in child’s life! With thirteen grandchildren, my love and passion for life is blessed each day I hold a child’s life in my hands. My mission... Not One More Child Drowns!!! Find me here.
Olivia Melonas
I am a mother of three daughters. My youngest daughter had a non-fatal drowning in February of this year in our backyard pool when she was 17 months old. Miraculously she is fine with no lasting injury. Ever since that fateful day I have become a part of the movement to end childhood drowning.
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Within two weeks of putting my children through ISR lessons, I knew I wanted to become part of the survival swim movement. In 2001, I trained to become a certified ISR instructor and have, since then, taught well over 1,000 students. After realizing ISR was my passion, I went on to become a Master Instructor in 2003 and was provided the opportunity to train over 40 new instructors across the country.
Bringing ISR to new communities and sharing information with parents about the importance of drowning prevention is one of my greatest passions in life, and I feel extremely blessed to be part of ISR’s mission of Not One More Child Drowns. For 17 years, I have strived to teach survival swim techniques to as many children as possible who are between the ages of 6 months and 6 years. I look forward to meeting you, learning about your family and helping your child grow.
Nina (Natina) Gibbs is founder and owner of Swim Foundations, a training resource for swim instructors and a mobile swim school based in Redding, CA. Her organization's mission is to cultivate highly effective swim instructors and enhance the quality of swim teaching programs in the U.S. She also strives to promote water safety awareness to northern California families through parent education, awareness in children, and better training for swim teachers.
Nina is mom to a water-loving toddler and also works part-time as a small business advisor and consultant.
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I’m a wife and mother of six ranging in age from 21-10 years old. I lived most of my life near the ocean and always loved the water. I earned my Associates of Science degree and my EMT license. I’ve worked in different areas of the medical field throughout my life.
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Almost twenty years ago while living in FL I learned about survival swimming lessons. After a move to California 18 years ago I pioneered Water Safety being the first Instructor north of Los Angeles!
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Currently I offer water safety lessons during the months of May, June and July. I also work full time in the Emergency Department at Adventist Health Lodi Memorial Hospital. I have always enjoyed educating my community through discussions with moms groups, preschools, kindergarten classes, church groups, local news and television media and pediatrician visits.
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I continue to be more dedicated and determined to do my part in raising awareness that drowning is a preventable tragedy.
Kristina Andrews: Ambassador: Northern California
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Hello! My name is Kristina. I am a wife, mother of 3, and a nurse in the Northern California Bay Area. In July of 2017, we lost our precious Kourtney at the age of 3 to drowning. Since that life changing day, my eyes were opened to a world of information about drowning that I didn’t even know was out there. I knew immediately that I wanted to do whatever it took to get this knowledge out there to prevent this tragedy from happening to anyone else...but I didn’t know how or where to start. The task was so daunting in the midst of my grief. A little over a year later, we welcomed a baby boy to our family. When he turned 6 months old, I just knew we had to get him survival swim lessons. I never imagined that in such a populated area of the country that my search for an instructor would come up so slim. There was only 1 ISR instructor who was an hour away and who’s schedule did not accommodate working parents. I was devastated and terrified at the same time. However, that barrier sparked a fire under me and in that moment, I had figured out what my calling was. It was then that Kourtney’s Kause was born. Kourtney’s Kause is working to bring more ISR instructors to the area by helping to sponsor student instructor trainings, finding pools, and coordinating lessons for students. As we grow and start fundraising, we also plan to also provide scholarships for lessons. We believe that through community education and skilling children and families in water safety, we can put an end to this 100% preventable tragedy!
I am a Mother, Wife, Entrepreneur and Marine Veteran. I am the Vice President and Treasurer of Empowered Women Networking INC, where our mission is to provide free to low cost, education, training and resources to women in our community. In 2019 we lost our beautiful daughter Kendall to a drawing accident in our own pool. She loved every minute of being in the water and I wish I had only known about ISR prior to the accident. I am passionate and dedicated to ending childhood drowning by providing the much needed education and resources to prevent others from experiencing the pain and tragedy we could have avoided.
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I am currently in the process of setting up the Kendall Bug foundation to bring more awareness and resources to the community and am organizing our first annual Kendall bug 5k to raise money to provide funding for local ISR lessons.