While many aquatic centres across the country are barely able to keep their heads above water with ongoing staffing shortages, Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre (SLSFSC) is relieved to report that they're managing to stay afloat.
Swimming facilities have been slow to recover after the COVID-19 pandemic, with reports of lifeguard and swim instructor shortages raising alarm across the country. It would seem the Cochrane pool, however, has made some successful attempts to patch the blows.
The aquatic facility is back to running on all cylinders, says SLSFSC human resources manager Jolee Coulter.
"We currently have about 50 staff who are certified as both lifeguards and swim instructors," she said.
Sales and marketing manager with SLSFSC, Michelle Everett, said that the pool is also running the same amount of swimming lessons as they were in 2019.
The facility's recovery is due in part to actions the management team took early on after re-opening, according to Everett. It's also due to the fact that they were able to open sooner than much of the rest of Canada with provincial restrictions lifting on swimming pools and recreation centres in Alberta last July.
Everett said the facility's commitment to being open to the community whenever they were able is a decision that's allowed them to find their footing sooner than later, despite some financial pitfalls.
"An aquatic centre is extremely expensive to run," she said. "So when restrictions are changing and we're allowed to be open and then two weeks later we're not, it's actually easier and less expensive for us to just stay closed."
But they didn't do that.
"We made the choice to be open whenever we could whereas some pools chose to stay closed and save a little bit of money," Everett said.
The result, she added, is that the facility experienced its lifeguard shortage much sooner than others because it was an identifiable problem earlier in its recovery.
The pinch came in September 2021 as much of their young summer staff began returning to school.
"We started to experience the very real effects of being short-staffed," said Coulter. "There were days where we had to close up in the afternoons just to give the staff that we did have a bit of a break.
"The community would have seen that, it was quite obvious that we were having major capacity problems and periodic closures as well."
The facility's management team decided it was time to go back to the drawing board and determine how they could address the staffing shortages they were seeing.
The answer they came up with? Offering training incentives to new and existing staff.
"We began offering incentives to pay for their certifications if they agreed to stay working with us for a year, part-time," said Everett. "It was a good call and we saw a lot of uptake."
At one point, MNP Community and Sport Centre (formerly Repsol Sport Centre), reached out to SLSFSC to inquire about the sponsorship program and they began making the same offering, Everett added.
Just last month, the Quebec government announced they're introducing the same incentive, making it free for anyone to become a certified lifeguard or swim instructor in the province.
The Cochrane facility covered the costs of National Lifeguard certifications offered by the Lifesaving Society's Alberta and Northwest Territories Branch, Water Safety Instructor courses, and required Standard First Aid and CPR training offered by the Canadian Red Cross Society.
They also offered to cover training costs for Bronze Cross and Bronze Medallion pre-requisite courses for the National Lifeguard certification.
Typically, all the courses together can ring in around $1,000 per person to complete.
"We did everything we could possibly do to stay open and get ahead of everything," said Everett. "And it worked."
It's also improved their staffing efficiencies. They're operating normally with less pool staff than they did pre-pandemic by employing people who are dual-certified as both lifeguards and swim instructors.
The challenge they're facing now is having enough hours of available pool time in the day to provide lessons to a two-year backlog of fledgling swimmers.
"It's going to take some time for everyone to have access to some lessons [here] only because of the insanely high demand," Everett said, adding that she thinks it's a short-term problem that can and will be resolved.
"There's a demand for swimming lessons, but no more than before because kids are so behind on their lessons," she said. "It is worrisome though because we're really big on kids and adults knowing how to swim."
The demand for swimming Levels 1 to 5 are always full and always have a wait list, Everett explained.
"Those are the levels where kids are in the water un-parented and those lessons are so critical for young swimmers to grow," she explained. "We're trying to find creative ways to offer more of those high-demand swim levels."
The facility plans to add another 10 or so lifeguards and swim instructors to its staff in the fall, Everett added. However, they aren't currently offering the same incentive as they were late last year to pay for training.
Cochrane Piranhas Summer Swim Club President, James Lange, said the importance of providing and meeting the demands of swimming lessons in the community, and across the country, cannot be understated.
"If you're not a competent swimmer, you're basically at risk of having a tragic accident at some point," he said. "It's not nice to think about it that way, but the truth is, there is a chance at some point in your life that you might need to put your swimming skills to the test.
"Just from a safety measure, it's really important that all people learn to swim."
Lange said local swim clubs can offer some reprieve to those who might be stuck on a waiting list for swim lessons.
While the costs and overall experience will differ, they're largely the same in that both will create a confident swimmer in the water. In a club, Lange added, swimmers will generally spend more hours in the pool to become extremely strong, fast swimmers.
A good test of swimming ability in Lange's opinion is to be able to tread water and swim unsupported for three minutes while fully-clothed.
"It's difficult to swim with all your clothes on, even if you're a really strong swimmer," he said. "But it's not that hard to imagine falling into the water from a boat or a dock fully-clothed. It does happen and it's important to have the ability to get yourself to safety."
