City of Waterloo offering free certification program to address lifeguard shortage

Pools and beaches across the country are struggling with lifeguard shortages in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted training. (Spencer Turcotte/CTV Kitchener)

Like many municipalities across Canada, the City of Waterloo finds itself underwater due to a lack of lifeguards. But it is diving head first into a possible solution.

A lot of lifeguards-in-training dropped out during the pandemic because pools were closed so they never returned to finish their courses.

But Waterloo is looking to change that by offering a free daytime Aquatic Leadership Certification program to people ages 18 and older.

WHAT THE PROGRAM LOOKS LIKE

Adults who pass a skills assessment can take part in the program, which includes:

• Bronze Medallion/Emergency First Aid and CPR B
• Bronze Cross/Standard First Aid and CPR C/National Lifeguard
• Life Saving Society Instructors and Swim Instructors

Ruth Reitzel has 35 years of experience as a lifeguard and is one of the people leading the way as an instructor.

"We want to open our pools up fully," she said in an interview with CTV News.

The required hours of training remains the same, but it's packed into a condensed schedule.

"It's approximately 15 weeks," said Reitzel, who went on to explain the program is split up into two six-hour days each week.

Ruth Reitzel is one of the new program's instructors. (Spencer Turcotte/CTV Kitchener)

That's compared to the nine or 10 weeks it usually takes to complete each course. The shortened timeline encouraged Colin Jones to sign up.

'I WOULD LOVE TO GET EMPLOYED AS A LIFEGUARD'

"I was actually a lifeguard 30 years ago in the City of Kitchener. So when this opportunity came up, it seemed like a great chance to get back into it," Jones said.

Mary Velikova did classes to become a lifeguard before, but she never finished because of the price tag attached to the training.

She sees this as a second chance.

"I would love to get employed as a lifeguard at the City of Waterloo at some point," Velikova said.

Employment is a real possibility given the shortage, and it's something city staff are aiming for.

"We're hoping to put them through our hiring process at the end of this year and they would be starting with us for employment in January 2024," said Kristen Cook, manager of recreation programming for the City of Waterloo.

With the current group of trainees about halfway through the process, the city is confident this life-saving certification program will boost their pool of lifeguards.

HOW TO SIGN UP

Training for the fall program is already underway so it is not accepting anymore people.

The program won't be running for the winter, but the city plans to run it again in spring 2024.

Key dates for the spring program will be posted here and more information about the program can be found on the city's website.