The Lifesaving society has partnered with Woodlawn Regional Park to help in the opening of their new life jacker loaner station available at the Boundary Dam beach site.
Education director with the Lifesaving Society Courtney Domoney gave a presentation to those in attendance of the Aug. 11 grand opening of the new station and says she encourages everyone in the community to be as educated as possible when it comes to water safety.
“We were in attendance at Woodlawn Regional Park to celebrate the opening of their new lifejacket loaner station and provide some information to the people that decided to come out,” said Domoney.
“The Lifesaving Society has partnered with some of the Provincial parks over the last few years to open these type of station across the province. There are life jacket stations across Manitoba and Alberta as well as B.C so we want to get them across Saskatchewan as well and really help people stay safe when they are in the water.”
Members of the Woodlawn Regional Park team reached out to the Lifesaving Society in 2017 after a member saw signage provided by the Lifesaving Society at a life jacket loaner station in Alberta.
The Lifesaving Society is a par of the International Life Saving Federation, which is composed of lifesaving organizations from around the world. Organized international life saving activities date back to 1878, when the first World Congress was hosted in Marseille, a city in the South of France. This led firstly to the establishment of the Fédération Internationale de Sauvetage Aquatique (FIS) and the later formation of World Life Saving (WLS), who later merged in 1993 into the International Lifesaving Federation.
“We think it’s really important that people use life jacket stations like these,” said Domoney.
“We always encourage everyone to use a life jacket when they are in the water. We also encourage people to take water safety training and learn how to swim and also also encourage swimming and boating lessons. Information sessions like the ones we give can be extremely helpful but we want people to be taking as many strides as possible to always be safe in the water.”
The newly opened life jacket loaner station is available for anyone who visits the park and is operated on an honour system. Guests are encouraged to take as many life jackets as needed and bring them back when they have finished using them. The station is openly daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
