JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In honor of World Drowning Prevention Day, the new Face the Water with Confidence campaign by the First Coast YMCA is raising awareness about water safety for parents and children to reduce the number of drownings in Florida.
The organization says, “Drowning continues to be a leading cause of death among children under the age of 5 in Florida.”
Megan Hansson, Aquatics Director for First Coast YMCA, says educating the community through swim lessons and lifeguard training is an important part of the campaign.
“For the YMCA, we have three basic swim lessons that they can definitely get into. We can bring those children in at the earliest at six months, which is our Swim Starter program, so that’s six to 36 months. Then they can go into our Swim Basics, which is more of our preschool area that is three to five years old, and then our Swim Strokes, which will be our five to 12 years old...Of course, then we can definitely get them into doing lifeguarding,” Hansson said.
For parents who want to sign up for swim lessons or have teenagers interested in a job as a lifeguard, you can go to Water Safety Florida for more information.
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