Story by: Calli Forbes
Swim instructors Kaitlin Perry and Breena Rusnell always knew their work went far beyond teaching children how to do the front crawl or how to tread water.
“We are here to teach kids life skills and to overcome challenges, because no one knows what’s going to be thrown at us,” says 21-year-old Kaitlin.
And with wildfires impacting their hometown of Fort McMurray in May, many of their swimming students have had their share of challenges thrown at them recently.
The instructors work at the Syncrude Aquatic Centre on MacDonald Island Park, which reopened its doors on June 13, offering its full roster of
Canadian Red Cross swim programming. The facility was used as a home base for emergency services personnel battling the May fires.
As their students get back into the water for the first time since the evacuation, Kaitlin and Breena are aware of the need for sensitivity.
“There is obviously always the really positive, super uplifting kids that are really excited to get back into the water, but then there are kids who may have had very traumatizing experiences,” Kaitlin says.
“We are just trying to be compassionate and taking the time to help the kids get back into that routine and making them feel safe more than anything.”
Kaitlin recalls returning to the pool with a 5-year-old student for the first time since being evacuated. The young swimmer was attending swimming lessons the day of the May 3 evacuation.
“I’ve taught him many times, he’s an amazing swimmer and the very first day of lessons back (after the evacuation) he starts walking in the pool with me and he starts sobbing hysterically,” she recalls. “He was scared of the power going out and he was scared that we were going to get evacuated. So I asked him, ‘If I go buy an underwater flashlight will you go swimming with me?’ And he said yes.”
“Just gradually every day, more and more, he was swimming more, he began to love it more, and he wasn’t as scared.”
Aquatics Manager Brandi Schedlosky says it was important for the aquatic centre to start operating as soon as it could once residents returned to Fort McMurray.
“Our main goal was to have everything back to normal once all the kids and adults came back,” says Brandi. “It’s something fun to come to and a distraction from what’s been going on and being able to provide that sense of normalcy to those kids with the happy, familiar faces of their instructors.”
Returning to the familiarity of swimming lessons and lifeguarding has also meant a lot to Breena and Kaitlin as well.
“It was so nice coming back,” Breena says, adding with a laugh, “I don’t think that I’ve ever been more excited to teach swimming lessons.”