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A life jacket loaner station program is starting in the Whitehorse area at Long Lake, just northwest of the city.

According to a Long Lake swimmer who didn鈥檛 want their name used, the life jacket station is a welcome development.

鈥淢any parents rely on inflatable cuffs for their kids (which I noticed at Long Lake) which are not safe. Good that the City is looking at increasing water safety here, as it is a very popular swimming site.鈥�

Karen Zaidan, aquatics supervisor and national trainer with the Lifesaving Society for Yukon region explains how the program came about.

鈥淧rior to living here in the Yukon, I lived in the Northwest Territories and was a part of the Northwest Territories life-saving branch and the program is actually well-established in Alberta and the Northwest Territories. They have over 41 stations across the province and territory.

鈥淚 guess this is three years of programming out at Long Lake and being down there during the hot busy days, you can see how many people actually come down and use the lake 鈥� not only Long Lake, but Chadburn and Schwatka. There鈥檚 a lot of safe water behaviours, but there鈥檚 also a lot of unsafe water behaviours ... knowing as well there鈥檚 going to be the installation of docks and you鈥檙e inviting a little more dangerous activity into deep water. If people can鈥檛 swim, then that鈥檚 a problem but if they just also want to hop in a boat or try something out with the safety of having a PFD (Personal Floatation Device), then why not?鈥� related Zaidan.

鈥淪o I made ... a bid to the city saying 鈥榟ey, why don鈥檛 we try this program out at Long Lake where we do already have a presence and where we can see and evaluate, for our community, how we can educate our community members about being safe in, around and on the water.鈥� It is successful in a lot of the other communities, so we just kind of wanted to give it a try and at the end of the day, if it saves a life, then that鈥檚 amazing. We did a good job.鈥�

Zaidan explains why the program was implemented.

鈥淚t鈥檚 an opportunity to offer equipment for those that might not be able to afford it for the use during the day.

鈥淚t also gives us an opportunity to educate as well ... I have 55 lifeguards that work for me at the pool but one per cent of drownings happen in supervised areas, so putting a life jacket loaner station is just in the hopes of decreasing what potentially could be devastating for our community.鈥�

Zaidan said there has been a delay getting the program started.

鈥淥ur project got delayed due to another department 鈥� I don鈥檛 want to lay the blame on anyone 鈥� so it鈥檚 just being installed right now. The sign is going to go up hopefully this week and life jackets will be out there.

鈥淚t鈥檚 National Drowning Prevention Week. We have just started our programming so at least now we can add it to our promo as well and just water awareness,鈥� she added.

As for how many life jackets they will have on hand, 鈥淲e鈥檒l have at least two or three in each of the sizes,鈥� said Zaidan.

鈥淲e won鈥檛 have infant sizes but there are 20-30, 30-60, 60-90 and then the adults, so there鈥檒l be about 12-15 life jackets out there at a time.

鈥淏ut long-term, it would be really great to get community businesses involved in terms of potentially donating life jackets, or even residents. The first goal is to get it erected, get it used, get people knowing that it鈥檚 there ... I have a five-year plan for it, so if it鈥檚 well-received and well-used, and we think it鈥檚 worthwhile, then I would look at using it at our other highly-populated areas like Chadburn, Schwatka maybe. Schwatka would be a good one because of the boating. We have lots of people heading out on boats.鈥�

Zaiden describes how the life jacket loaner program works.

鈥淚t鈥檚 an honour system. It鈥檚 out there. Hopefully your size will be there. Use it while you need it and when you鈥檙e done with it, return it, so that there will be a life jacket there for someone else to use as well.鈥�

Zaidan said there will be events at Long Lake going on today and Saturday from 3 to 7 p.m.

鈥淔or National Drowning Prevention Week, we鈥檙e bringing down our inflatable pieces to the lake and we鈥檙e going to be out there celebrating the week.鈥�

鈥淵ou鈥檒l have to pass a swim test but we will have life jackets down (there) to play and get fit ... anybody can come down and ask any water awareness questions they may have. We鈥檒l be running games. We鈥檒l be celebrating people that are recreating safely and smartly.鈥�

鈥淭here are certain times of the week that there are trained lifeguards down there at the water doing water surveillance, so if anyone wants to get comfortable with lake swimming or get an introduction for their kids into what it means to swim out in open water versus a pool 鈥� it is quite different. Our goal is to bring more awareness and talk water safety,鈥� she added.

Zaidan said the program is already well-received.

鈥淚鈥檝e had a few people 鈥� because the email went out and then it didn鈥檛 happen people were like 鈥楾his is amazing. Where can I find them?鈥� And then of course it鈥檚 me saying 鈥楤e patient. It鈥檚 coming.鈥� So I do know that there are already people looking forward to it and also seeking us out when we are down there, so it鈥檚 kind of nice to see that.鈥�

Zaiden said having other life jacket stations around Whitehorse in the near future is a distinct possibility.

鈥淲e鈥檒l definitely do a proper evaluation of this one at Long Lake before we move forward with any other one but I would give it a two, three year evaluation and then we鈥檒l see where we go from there.鈥�

You can also bring your life jacket to the CGC pool and have it checked out to see if it鈥檚 still good.

鈥淚f anyone wanted to bring anything to the pool and have any of the lifeguards who are water safety instructors 鈥� we totally know what we鈥檙e looking for, for sure,鈥� said Zaidan.

鈥淲e can do a fit test as well. We often see kids bobbing around in the life jacket. There鈥檚 enough space between the shoulders and the head to fit another ball through there. Proper fit is something that is a good educational piece, too.鈥�

Zaidan added 鈥淪ummer鈥檚 so short and we all go outside and even though we鈥檙e year-round in a pool, we take our expertise from that pool and we transfer it out into the waterfront and that鈥檚 been a real big goal of mine, a personal goal of mine over the last five years. And over the last four years we鈥檝e actually made 28 new waterfront lifeguards ... to guard a pool is a different certification than it would be to guard a lake or a river or tidal pools. So we鈥檙e moving in a really wonderful direction ... of those little steps to making sure that our communities are safe.鈥�