Students learn how to prevent drownings at Vaughan swimming school

Water safety event held days after separate drownings of York Region residents

Yorkregion.com
July 25, 2019
Lisa Queen

Just days after separate drownings of two York Region residents, students at Vaughan’s Making Waves Swim School in Vaughan jumped into the pool with their clothes on during their swimming lessons on July 24.

The idea, held on water safety day as part of Drowning Prevention Week, was to teach people how to save themselves if they find themselves falling into water unprepared.

"Water safety awareness and the ability to swim are such important lifelong skills to have. The ability to know what to do if you fell into water could be potentially life-saving,” manager Deanna Noel said.

“It doesn't matter how fast you can swim or knowing every stroke perfectly, it's about being safe around water and knowing how to successfully get yourself to safety."

Tragically, two York Region residents drowned in July.

On July 7, a 24-year-old Vaughan man died while swimming with a friend near Tobermory.

Just a week later, on the night of July 13, Ryan Taylor, a 20-year-old Whitchurch-Stouffville resident, drowned after jumping off a dock on Cavendish Lake north of Peterborough.

One in five drowning victims are under the age of 15, a statement from Making Waves said.

The company’s schools in Brampton, Mississauga and Milton held similar water safety days on July 24.