As the Echo Pool in Port Alberni struggles with a lack of staff and lifeguards, the City of Port Alberni has announced that the pool will be closed on Sundays for the foreseeable future.
After a few weeks of last-minute cancellations, the city announced at the beginning of March that Echo Aquatic Centre would be closed on Sundays. City staff expect that this closure will last until “early 2024” due to staff shortages.
Port Alberni is not the only community in British Columbia, or even Canada, struggling to staff lifeguards. The Strathcona Gardens public pool in Campbell River, for example, has had to close Mondays due to staff shortages.
“[Staffing] is a challenge that every service organization is having right now,” explained Willa Thorpe, Port Alberni’s director of parks, recreation and heritage. “In lifeguarding across the province, it’s been a struggle over the past five to 10 years. We’ve been lucky in the past, but now it’s catching up to us.”
In order to become lifeguards, swimmers need a number of courses and prequisites, including the Bronze Medallion, Bronze Cross, Swim Instructor and National Lifeguard course. These courses can be both costly and time-consuming. Becoming lifeguard certified is not something that can be completed over a couple of weekends, said Thorpe.
“[Lifeguarding] can be quite a viable career, but it’s also quite an investment,” she added.
The pandemic interrupted the “natural lifecycle” of lifeguards, explained Thorpe, as many of the courses that were slated to run over 2020 and 2021 were cancelled. As younger staff left the community to go to school, or as older staff retired, there were no new lifeguards to take their place. Some staff are also only available to work part-time.
To try and attract new lifeguards, the city is offering lifeguarding and swim instructor courses at reduced rates this spring and summer. These can be found at www.playinpa.ca.
The lack of lifeguards, unfortunately, also affects the city’s ability to provide swimming lessons, which have always been a “hot commodity” in Port Alberni, said Thorpe. Registered swim lessons are booked up within minutes of becoming available on the city’s website.
“In a community like Port Alberni, learning to swim is a life skill,” said Thorpe. “Unfortunately, the reality is we have so much more demand than we can accommodate.”
Thorpe is hoping the community will be understanding about the closures while they last. The decision to close Sundays was not one that was made lightly, she said. Sundays were chosen based on pool attendance and the availability of staff.
“Ideally, we don’t want to shut down ever,” she said. “Sundays made the most sense for us. At this point, it’s not cost effective for us to have a seven-day-a-week pool. We look at where there’s going to be the lowest impact to community and staff.”
elena.rardon@albernivalleynews.com
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