Again, thank you so much for
joining us here on Idaho today.
You know, it's the last week
of school for some kids,
and before you know what all the kids
soon enough will be in the water.
Having a great time.
But the water can also be a dangerous place,
so understanding water safety is
imperative to any trip to the pool
or lake and we are pleased to have
Mike Kappu shinsky from the Treasure
Valley family YMCA here with us.
He's the executive director of
the Tomlinson South Meridian YMCA
and leads the Aquatics program
in the Treasure Valley as well.
And it is so great to have you here
as such an important topic Mike.
I think a lot of parents,
they realize that water safety
is really important,
but I think that not many understand how
quickly a situation can become dangerous.
Thank you for having them Melissa.
And yes, it is true.
Drowning happens really quickly and it's
not like what we learned from the movies.
It's not very dramatic, it's quick,
quiet, a child or an adult can slip
under the water and start the drowning
process in as little as 10 seconds.
So we at the Treasure Valley YMCA.
Value water safety above all, yes,
couple of things that parents should
be aware of and not just parents.
Every adult never swim alone.
Make sure you have friends with you.
Make sure your parents are there.
Secondly, if at all possible,
swim in a place where there
are lifeguards present.
They are trained to provide safety.
And finally,
no matter how safe you think you are,
where additional protection,
children and lifejackets,
adults and life jackets are imperative
to preventing drowning, you know,
in Idaho we have a lot of water.
Yes, we do, and.
Childhood drowning is the first
leading cause of accidental
death for kids under 7 years old.
Oh my goodness, yeah.
And and Idaho per capita.
Historically,
we hover between #1 and #5 in the
nation and those really so no matter
how good of a swimmer you are,
no matter how many lifeguards are present,
no matter how many lifejackets
you and your family are wearing,
stay vigilant, and, if at all possible,
start swimming lessons.
And start swimming lessons
as young as six months old.
And as late as 99 plus.
Yes,
it's never too late to learn to swim
yes. And and I think you make some
incredibly key points here. Mike, you know.
So obviously learning to swim,
but also there's a little bit
of a false comfort. I call it.
I have a very advanced swimmer in my family.
My my daughter,
but still around open natural waterways.
The river, a lake, right?
You can never take that for
granted just because you never
know what's underneath.
You don't know about a current,
and that's where that life
jacket is so imperative.
We call
this a layers of protection.
Yes, whether you're at a lake,
what any kind of waterfront.
Even at the pool, sometimes we
have a tendency as parents to go.
Well, there is a lifeguard.
There are other peoples watching them.
Yeah. And the reality is you
as a parent are the best layer
of protection for your child.
Pay attention to them. Look at them.
Make sure you know what they're doing
and everything else you layer up from.
There. Just makes your child safe
and that's so important too,
because that applies to so many things that
we just talked about the open waterways.
Making sure obviously that life jacket,
even if you have a toddler and you
have a Kitty pool in the backyard
with just a couple inches of water.
That's enough. Absolutely,
that is enough for your child to drown.
If you're not paying attention.
So being diligent, obviously number one
vigilance is number 1.
Layers of protection,
number 2 #3 swimming lessons.
You know you can get swimming lessons
in a lot of places at the valley,
you can get them from the YMCA.
We offer financial assistance.
Nobody's ever.
Turned away for an ability to pay,
so really no reason not to learn to swim.
And finally,
we value safety around water so much
that this summer we're starting
our lifeguards at $15.50 an hour.
Because we know there are imperative
to providing safety to kids and adults.
Alright, so you're up in the the
lifeguarding opportunity at the Y.
So not only are you practicing water safety,
but you're also creating some
great summer jobs too for
for for some teens out there,
and everyone's you know,
school starting to get out.
College students are coming home.
That's a great chance to be a part of
something really important and also get
some work experience into my order.
People go to learn more.
You can go to
www.ymcatvidaho.org.
You can call anyone of our facilities.
You can simply walk into a YMCA
and we'll make sure that you are
registered for swimming lessons or
if you want to become a lifeguard.
We're actually we will provide
you with a free training,
really certification. Yes.
Oh, that's fantastic.
I wish that was around when I was young.
I had to pay for mine.
All right? Thank you so much.