The Chestermere Rotary Club helps to keep beachgoers safe for the summer by opening the life jacket loaner station on May 25.
Since 2016, life jackets of all sizes are put out for beach user’s day use in the early morning and then locked up at night by the city.
“The life jackets increase the comfort level of parents with young kids who come down to the beach,” said Public Relations of the Chestermere Rotary Club Ron McKee.
The life jacket loaner station eliminates the concerns of parents and guardians have while their young child plays in the sand and by the shoreline.
“They can relax more,” McKee said.
He added, the life jacket loaner station is a provincial program, that was started after a series of aquatic accidents.
The life jacket loaner station is essential for the community, it has helped to increase in lake use safety, said Chestermere Firefighter Geoff Standish. “It is a great thing that Rotary is doing.”
Life jackets are not the only way lake users can ensure they are staying safe while spending a day at the beach.
Lifeguard-in-training Akesh Aheer added that it is important to always to do head count of the group you are with before getting in the water, always stay within an arms-reach of children and weak swimmers, don’t eat a large meal before swimming, and follow the rules on the park signs.
Rotation Karen McKee added, when she was raising four young children, she would often take them to the beach.
“Every head looks the same out there in the water,” Karen said.
The life jackets Karen’s young children would wear while playing at the beach gave her a sense of relaxation.
“I didn’t go home quite as frazzled and came home with the same four kids I arrived with,” she said.
She added, “We want to give peace of mind for parents of young children who may wonder out too far into the water. Accidents can happen in so very quickly.”
The Chestermere Rotary Club encourages residents to bring any life jackets used back to the life jacket loaner station and to donate any unused life jackets to the boat launch.
For additional information on the life jacket loaner station, please email the Chestermere Rotary Club email at rotarychestermere@gmail.com.
