*Guest entry by Carolyn Tees, Senior Manager, Injury Prevention at the Canadian Red Cross
National Lifejacket Day means more to me than just a day we promote at the Red Cross. When I started with Red Cross, I read coroner’s report after coroner’s report about young males not wearing lifejackets, falling overboard and succumbing to the water and drowning. Every time I read these, I felt this great sense of sadness and loss for the person’s family, friends and all the people that one death impacted.
Now I am a mother of a young boy and it hits home even more. Tomorrow we are going on a family fishing trip. We are going with a guide with over 10 years experience in a 7.6 metre boat. Nothing should happen. But at the same time I have our lifejackets ready for the trip. Lifejackets will be on board, but I make my son and husband put theirs on before getting on the boat. So it isn’t something that is forgotten in the rush of getting out there. I want to know that I have done everything I can to ensure each trip we take... has only wonderful memories of the fish caught and lost.