Shallow Water Pool Certification
Date: July 16 - 20, 2007
Registration Deadline: July 6, 2007
Registration Fee: FREE
Location: Yellowknife
The NWTRPA is advocating for the development of a new Shallow Water Pool Certification that would provide an easily attainable award for young adults (aged 14 and older) in small communities and that will allow them to guard at their above ground pool (Class 'A') facilities and encourage them to continue their training.
With the current Bronze Medallion/Bronze Cross structure, we are losing many candidates before they complete their training because of the rigorous swimming requirement that is very hard to train for in the small, shallow pools found in many NWT communities. The reality is that they do not have to worry about swimming great distances as you do now for Bronze Medallion and Bronze Cross (swim 600m) to be able to rescue someone in a Shallow Water Pool.
This new certification would be be beneficial to recreation coordinators, individuals in recreation and sport, teachers and other members of the community who are interested in learning basic lifesaving procedures without the rigorous deep water rescue and swimming skills.
What the benefits of having shallow water pool lifeguards?
There is a serious lack of trained aquatic professionals in the NWT and communities have had an over reliance on southern hires to operate seasonal aquatic facilities.
This as an area that needs to be improved by encouraging northern interest in aquatic certifications and ensuring consistency in seasonal aquatic programs from year to year.
In order to meet these goals the NWT needs to develop a large pool of competent lifeguards from its residents. The Lifesaving Societies Shallow Water Pool certification is an excellent way to begin to build the NWT's lifeguard pool at a grass roots level.
This new certification would provide the appropriate training for the type of facilities that exist in the north. 54.5% of all community aquatic facilities in the NWT would benefit from this certification. It is also important to note that all shallow water pool facilities in the NWT, with the exception of one, operate in small non-tax based communities.
Is this program economically viable?
There is a substantial cost savings associated with this program for the NWT. Currently each community that hires an aquatic supervisor from outside the NWT will pay ~$7000 to bring that individual into the community, house them and pay their wages.
By creating this certification the NWT could reduce our dependency on southern hires, which is costly, and this certification would pay for itself in a couple of years. Having local hires supervising pools throughout the north will result in no travel and accommodations costs for the community.
The Lifesaving Society is willing to train northern trainers, ensuring that the NWT has the capacity to train individuals and instructors within the territories. The NWT has permanent aquatic staff in the large regional centers who could become certified as trainers. With the introduction of this program we can begin to build a strong northern aquatic system at the grass root level.
What are the potential liabilities of this program?
At the present time, we do not foresee any potential liabilities, but we do realize that their may be some misconceptions about this proposed certification and the scope that it will cover.
Community leaders and all individuals involved in aquatics and community recreation must be made aware that this certification is only for shallow water pools.
The Shallow Water Pool certification does not replace any current lifesaving certifications and is not intended to allow certified individuals to guard at deep water pools (over 1.5m depth), rivers or waterfronts. However, this is a certification that starts staff towards that goal. Once they complete the shallow water pool certification, they could work towards other certifications, particularly the National Lifeguard Service Pool or Waterfront.
The NWTRPA strongly encourages all communities with aquatic programs to work to train residents in their communtiy to guard at their local facilities. The Shallow Water Pool Certification is one way the NWTRPA is helping commuities to deliver safe and enjoyable supervised aquatic recreational experiences.