Lifeguard shortage sinks programs
A shortage of lifeguards has St. Catharines scaling back its swimming programs just as registration for fall and winter lessons is starting.
Some of the aquatics programs, mostly one-on-one lessons, are being delayed or cancelled altogether though residents can be put on a wait list in case they become available again.
“This speaks to the overall shortage across the industry of lifeguards. It’s being felt across the region,” said Phil Cristi, director of parks, recreation and culture services.
“This is certainly not the kind of news that we want to be talking about the day we open registration, but we felt compelled to let people know that this is a reality for us.”
Earlier this month, the City of Welland said a weekly program at two pools featuring inflatable play equipment was put on hold because of a shortage of lifeguards.
Cristi said the need for trained lifeguards is high as every municipality has a pool, along with Brock University, the Ys and numerous hotels in Niagara Falls.
“There’s a huge demand for the talent that exists,” he said. “I think people have options, frankly.”
Roughly 25 courses in St. Catharines have been put on hold with one-on-one lessons being sacrificed in order to serve more people with group classes.
Cristi said as soon as the city can find more lifeguards, it can re-open the program slots. It needs about twice as many lifeguards as it has.
“Our hiring efforts continue, they never stop,” he said, adding an open job posting is available all year.
St. Catharines lifeguards are generally students. Cristi said one of the issues is high school students can’t commit to too many shifts yet because of unknown class schedules and many of the university students leave the city in the fall.
He said city staff are trying to be creative in coming up with strategies to recruit, including making a video, and may encourage more of the adult population interested in part-time work to apply.
“We would welcome anybody who has the qualifications, has the interest to do the work and willingness to work the shifts,” he said.
Shifts are mostly evenings and weekends. A St. Catharines lifeguard’s pay starts at $15.15 an hour, an instructor at $16.28 and a leadership instructor, bronzes, is $17.13.
Barbara Byers, public education director of the Lifesaving Society, said municipalities are sometimes finding they have to hire more positions than in the past because the lifeguards hired may not want to work as many hours.
She said generally over the past 10 years, many high school students are looking for multiple activities, like volunteer work or more extracurricular activities, to add to their applications to go to university.
“They want to do different things and more diverse activities in their week and their life rather than work and school and perhaps it speaks to the demands of getting accepted into university,” she said.
Cristi said the environment that aquatic staff are asked to work in is sometimes challenging and a lot of courses are required, which costs time and money.
“There’s a lot of upfront investment involved in becoming a lifeguard but there’s also a lot of reward in being a lifeguard,” he said, using the example of teaching a child to swim.
“Think of our young people who are lifeguards and instructors. They are leaders because they are thrust into situations that are very challenging and also very rewarding.”
The city doesn’t yet know how much revenue it will lose by cancelling programs.