Water safety experts are asking you to take extra caution cooling off at the lake or pool, as National Drowning Prevention Week begins and a sweltering week settles in Manitoba.
While learning to swim is key in preventing drownings, lessons are still hard to come by as facilities play catchup from the pandemic.
“We’re in extremely high demand right now. We’re just starting to get over a little bit of our backlog from the pandemic, but there’s still way more to go,’ H2O Academy’s general manager Kayla McMurchy told Global News on Sunday.
The facility is managing a waitlist of families concerned their children are falling behind, McMurchy said.
“There’s been tons of families that we, unfortunately, have not been able to accommodate.”
A problem Christopher Love with Lifesaving Society Manitoba says isn’t being helped by instructor and lifeguard shortages, as certification courses were put on hold during the last two years and workers found jobs in other fields.
“You may see reduced hours. You may see a reduced number of courses offered in terms of swimming lessons,” the Water Smart and Safety Management Co-ordinator said.
The society’s executive director says that also isn’t their only concern this year, as water levels remain high from spring flooding.
“There could be floating debris in the water that boaters and swimmers need to be aware of. Beaches that were once there, are no longer there, so it can be quite deep,” Stacey Grocholski said.
She urges waitlisted parents to keep calling facilities as certifications and staffing levels get back on track.
National Drowning Prevention week runs until July 23.