Lifesaving Society Manitoba toured the Northern and Parkland regions last week to see if their partners and affiliate agencies need more support.
Dr. Christopher Love, water smart & safety management co-ordinator for Lifesaving Society Manitoba, says that the society's Northern Water Smart Program aims to lower the number of water-related injuries and deaths.
"It's designed to provide basic swim instruction, first-aid training and boat... safety training to northern or remote communities that otherwise can't access those services, so every summer we send up instructors to northern or remote communities, First Nations, places that don't have swimming pools, and they provide those services," he adds.
According to Dr. Love, the Personal Flotation Device (PFD) Loaner Program allows community organizations to apply for access to free life jackets or PFDs, so that they could become available to people in a lending-library format.
"You come, you check out your life jacket, you use it for the day, so that you can enjoy a safe boating trip, and then once you're done, you return it to... the loaning station and it's available for someone else in the community to take... and use... again for the next trip to that's going to happen," he adds.
Furthermore, Dr. Christopher Love says that Lifesaving Society Manitoba is working to address the lifeguard shortage in the province.
"We're supporting all those agencies that are employing lifeguards, helping them set up training courses, making sure that there are instructors available, making sure more instructors are trained, or helping people source instructors because we do have a network that is spread out across the province," he adds.
Dr. Love went on to say that the next step would be to then advertise jobs and get them out to as a wide network as possible.
He also said that cold water can be especially dangerous because the shock of cold water can cause someone to inhale water and start the drowning process.
More information on cold water shock can be found at coldwaterkills.ca.
