Using the pool? The Y offers safety tips

With the kids on holiday and the heat in the nineties almost every day, Belizeans are cooling off in any body of clean water they can find. For city residents, one of those options are swimming pools. But as the children enjoy the cool water, there are dangers to look out for. According to YWCA lifeguard Kent Reyes, just following a few basic tips can keep you safe.

Kent Reyes, Lifeguard

“If you have your parents along with you, you like the kids to be well disciplined, well supervised in a close and a buddy-buddy system. If there isn’t any parent, you can be assured that he security will be along with them. The most important thing is that you don’t want to be eating in the pool, it could cause contamination; you don’t want to be chewing gum. You don’t want to be horse playing. Horse playing simply means kicking, splashing, dunking, doing those Wrestlemania stuff, you don’t want to be doing that. Also, people with open wounds, people with large cuts, sores et cetera, they don’t want to be entering the pool at this time. Those are some of the rules that you could use. Also drugs, alcohol is a zero tolerance here at the YWCA.”

Ann-Marie Williams

“DO you have to wear the bathsuit?”

Kent Reyes

“Yes, it’s a must that you wear a bathsuit. For those who cannot afford to get a bathsuit we acknowledge them by using a short pants and a nice T-shirt. No jeans pants, no long pants, just a nice shirt, something very light.”

If you would like to use the YWCA’s swimming pool, the facility is open for recreational use Mondays to Fridays from one to five in the afternoon, and on weekends from nine to five. A lifeguard is on duty during those times.