Greater Vernon Recreation Services will be presenting two young swimmers—seven-year-old Ava Bouchard and five-year-old Isaac Boismier—with lifejackets as prizes in a recent contest to promote Drowning Prevention Week and National Lifejacket Day.
Vernon Aquatic Centre held a colouring contest earlier this summer to bring awareness to drowning prevention and the importance of lifejackets in saving lives. Participants in swimming lesson or public swim times were invited to colour a picture of their family having fun at the lake with their lifejackets on. The entries were randomly drawn to win one of two Mustang self-inflating lifejackets. These lifejackets are light weight and ideal for fishing or boating. The goal was to have the winning children give the lifejacket to an adult they love and ask them to wear it whenever they go boating.
According to the 2015 B.C. Drowning Report, natural bodies of water accounted for the largest proportion of drownings in British Columbia in the 2008-2012 period (83%). Rivers and streams claimed the greatest number of lives (32%) followed by lakes (31%) and the ocean (21%). In 2012, 65 of the 84 people who suffered a water-related fatality in British Columbia drowned in a river (24), lake (24) or in the ocean (17).
