Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Staff running pools across Canada are trying to entice people to work as lifeguards amid a shortage, the Lifesaving Society says.
Pool and beach staffing can be somewhat challenging at the best of times, since the job often appeals to high school students between 16 to 18 who then leave to go away for post-secondary education, said Stephanie Bakalar, spokesperson for the Lifesaving Society Ontario.
But COVID-19 made things worse.
"You have those couple of years where hardly anyone got certified because the pools (were) open a little bit here and there, but not consistently enough to be able to really plan and run all these (training) programs," Bakalar said.
"It's not like we could just put everyone on Zoom and say, 'Oh, you could be a lifeguard,"' she said.
"You need to be physically in the water."
On Friday, the Ontario government lowered the minimum age requirement for lifeguards from 16 to 15 years old in a move aimed at addressing the staffing shortage.
Municipal governments and recreation centres have been getting "creative" to attract more people to the job while still ensuring they meet the rigorous training required by the Lifesaving Society, Bakalar said.
Christine Pelletier, director of aquatics, fitness and health at Dovercourt Recreation Centre in Ottawa, said they had already hired 15-year-olds who had completed their certification and gave them jobs as assistant instructors until they turned 16.
Another strategy is to train and hire older swimmers, Pelletier said.
Sometimes they're people who are now retired and used to lifeguard when they were younger, she said.
"Or (they're) people who are master swimmers who already have the swimming ability and maybe are looking to try something new, a new challenge to become a lifeguard for the first time in their lives."
Older adults who had been certified lifeguards in the past would just need to be recertified, Pelletier said. Others who have the swimming ability could take the required lifeguard training on their own before they're examined so they wouldn't have to take classes with "a bunch of 13-year-olds," she said.
There have been certified lifeguards in Canada who are around 80 years old, Bakalar said.
"There's a minimum age, but there's no maximum age," she said.
"As long as you can meet all of those criteria and you're physically able and you have the right judgment and skill, you can lifeguard and every two years you're going to recertify and re-demonstrate those skills."
Completing all the training to become a lifeguard can cost more than $1,000, so offering free training can be an important recruitment strategy, said Lenea Grace, executive director of the Lifesaving Society of BC and Yukon.
The Lifesaving Society provides lifeguards at BC Hydro-owned Buntzen Lake and Hayward Lake, she said, so the society covers the cost of their waterfront lifeguarding course, she said.
Municipalities such as New Westminster, B.C., recently offered paid training or scholarships "to help people attain the certifications they need," Grace said.
Such programs can help lower-income people who want to be lifeguards but "may have had cost as a barrier," she said.
Not all Canadian municipalities are facing a lifeguard shortage.
In an emailed statement to The Canadian Press on Friday, the city of Toronto said it has recruited "approximately 2,400 certified aquatic staff to supervise leisure and instructional programs at indoor and outdoor pools and waterfront beach operations."
"While City of Toronto programs have an appropriate complement of lifeguards ready for this summer -- thanks to all of the proactive work that has gone on in the background for the past two years to address the shortages created by the pandemic -- recruitment for all recreation staff, including lifeguards, remains ongoing," the statement said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 3, 2023.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Nearly 20 hours after a man climbed and remained perched on top of the Reconciliation Bridge in downtown Calgary, the situation came to a peaceful resolution.
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
A spokesman for a regional Muslim advocacy group says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's stance on the Israel-Hamas war could complicate his party's relationship with Muslim Canadians.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.
B.C. conservation officers recently seized a nine-foot-long Burmese python from a home in Chilliwack.
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
The Ontario government is introducing changes to auto-insurance, but some experts say the move is ill-advised.
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.
Newfoundland’s unique version of the Pine Marten has grown out of its threatened designation.
A Toronto man is out $12,000 after falling victim to a deepfake cryptocurrency scam that appeared to involve Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
It started small with a little pop tab collection to simply raise some money for charity and help someone — but it didn’t take long for word to get out that 10-year-old Jace Weber from Mildmay, Ont. was quickly building up a large supply of aluminum pop tabs.
There’s a group of people in Saskatoon that proudly call themselves dumpster divers, and they’re turning the city’s trash into treasure.
Ontario is facing a larger than anticipated deficit but the Doug Ford government still plans to balance its books before the next provincial election.