Parents praise water-safety education

Winnipeggers at Kildonan Park Pool were offered education about water safety on Sunday and one parent who had a previous drowning scare said the lessons could save a life.

One of several events this summer hosted by the Manitoba Coalition for Water Safety as part of National Drowning Prevention Week, the poolside event saw volunteers from the Lifesaving Society educating people on things like how to throw a rescue line and how to “swim to survive” which requires participants to fall in a pool, tread water for one minute and then swim 50 metres to safety.

Ashley Shepherd said she and her six-year-old son Logan, who was taking part in some of the exercises Sunday, had a close call at Birds Hill Park in 2024, with the incident happening in seconds.

She recalled how she turned around to help her young daughter who had lost her footing. A second later, her son fell off a floaty into the water and was quickly swept away. She went after the boy in a flash, but found herself tangled in seaweed and panicked, going under herself, a nearby couple coming to their rescue.

“I kept my cool until I got back to the beach area and then I just bawled,” she said. “It just hit me what almost happened.”

Shepherd said events that educate parents are key and said many parents, including herself, can get too comfortable.

“You lose sight of what could happen,” she said Sunday.

The event also featured a challenge where people had to run through water for 10 seconds — the amount of time in which a child can drown — to see how difficult a rescue is in real life.

Shepherd said she had been a weekend beach goer for years before her close call, an incident that shook her to her core.

She said water safety is critical.

“These are lives,” she said. “These are lives that can be taken away so fast.”

Just this weekend, Lac du Bonnet RCMP responded to a possible drowning when two boys, 10 and 13, slipped into fast moving water and never resurfaced near Sturgeon Falls Trail in Nutimik Lake in Whiteshell Provincial Park on Saturday.

Their disappearances are the latest tragedy on water in recent weeks. On Tuesday an intoxicated man drowned while fleeing police on the Fisher River Cree Nation.

On June 20, a 51-year-old man died after falling into the water during a canoe race on Pukatawagan Lake.

Tanya Szocs, a long-time volunteer with the Lifesaving society and a retired teacher, said giving kids a chance to practise life saving skills is important as it’s real-life experience and lessons that sticks with students.

“That’s huge,” she said. “That’s where education begins with the youth, because they’re the ones who carry it back to the parents and families.”

She said it’s inspiring to see how eager the kids are to learn, saying even in the activities, the kids are “giving it their all.”

Amber Fox’s son Darian Morissette was taking part in some of the activities before he headed into Kildonan Park Pool and she said she was pleased to find the learning opportunity set up.

“First off to keep themselves safe, but also to be able to help in case of crisis,” she said. “I want them to not only provide assistance, but to be able to provide it safely.”

She called the outreach valuable, as her son received a lesson in CPR and had a chance to throw a rescue line.

“It’s great. Not only are we here to have fun, but we’re also learning important lessons,” she said of the trip to the pool.

The educational efforts will continue this week in Portage la Prairie, Gimli and Treherne, with a similar hands-on event planned for Saturday at Grand Beach.

morgan.modjeski@freepress.mb.ca