'Swim to Survive'; Lifesaving Society program teaches survival skills in 3 lessons

A fatalweek on the water in northwestern Ontario, with four people reported dead in three incidents since July 5, is making some people re-examine the need for better water safety education.

• 1st road trip ends in tragedy for Kenora drowning victim
• Police recover body of swimmer in Kaministiquia River, Thunder Bay OPP say
• Wabaseemoong First Nation man dead after entering northwestern Ontario lake

A 21-year-old man, Duy Le, went missing in the Kaministiquia River near Thunder Bay on Thursday. His body was found on Saturday.

The bodies of Arwinder Brar, 19, and Pawan Preet Brar, 20, of Winnipeg were recovered the day after the two men went into Kenora's Lake of the Woods on Thursday.

As well, Ontario Provincial Police reported that 27-year-old Desmond Boyd of Wabaseemoong First Nation died after failing to resurface when he entered a lake in his community on Friday.

Tragedies such as these prompted Canada's Lifesaving Society to establish the Swim to Surviveprogram over a decade ago, says Barbara Byers, the public education director for the group's Ontario chapter.

"It's not swimming lessons," she said. "It's really designed to teach skills that will help a person survive an unexpected fall into deep water."

Swim to Survive focuses on three potentially lifesaving skills.

1. Roll into deep water:

The first lesson teaches people what it's like to fall into the water unexpectedly "and the disorientation that's associated with that, for instance if you fell out of a boat or slipped off a dock, or fell into the water while walking beside it," said Byers.

2. Tread water for one minute:

Treading water helps "you to get your adrenaline under control, to calm down and to basically make a plan," on how to get back to safety," whether that's a boat, the shore or the side of the pool, she said.

3. Swim for 50 metres:

"This is just go the distance, there's no style points, it doesn't have to be perfect form - start on your front, tread water for a bit, roll on your back for awhile, whatever it takes to get to safety," said Byers.

Statistics show two-thirds of drownings occur within 15-metres of safety, and that newcomers to Canada are between four and five times less likely to know how to swim, said Byers.

The Swim to Survive program is most often offered through schools to students in Grade 3, who learn the skills during three one-hour lessons. To date, close to 1,000,000 students in Ontario have gone through the program, which draws its funding from a variety of sources, said Byers.

In 2017, the society launched a version of the program geared towardslightly older children in Grade 7. It also created the Family Swim to Survive programbased on feedback from adults and parents, who said "I'm glad my kids are learning to swim and I want to swim with them and I don't know how to swim."

More information on Swim to Survive and other Lifesaving Society programs can be found here.