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Now 71, Town has been a lifeguard since 1968. A lot has changed since then.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first came to the Coast from the Interior in 1970, I was told, \u2018Sorry, women cannot lifeguard,\u2019 \u201d said Town, who had worked as a certified lifeguard in the Interior for several years.<\/p>\n
No women was a Vancouver thing. \u201cThey said women couldn\u2019t handle the beach, they wouldn\u2019t be able to carry paddle boards down, or stop fights between men.\u201d<\/p>\n
Town joined a handful of other female lifeguards in Vancouver in 1977. Since then, she has de-escalated a few fights and done her share of rescues.<\/p>\n
Lifeguards share a sense of family as team members, but in Vancouver a growing number of intergenerational families are working to keep Vancouver\u2019s beaches and pools safe.<\/p>\n
Dozens of local lifeguards have passed the legacy down to their kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews, making lifesaving a family tradition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t really have a choice,\u201d said Town\u2019s daughter, Tia Town-Schon. \u201cIt\u2019s the family business.\u201d<\/p>\n Two generations of lifeguards, Tia Town-Schon (left) and her mother, Kat Town, 71, at Kits pool in Vancouver.<\/span> Photo by Arlen Redekop<\/span> \/PNG<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHer mother, father, brother, sister and grandmother all lifeguarded, and now her 13-year-old niece Delaila is on track to train as a lifeguard, said Town-Schon, 41.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n
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Lifeguarding takes more than a love of the outdoors, said Town-Schon, who started lifeguarding at 17, and served as head guard at Kits pool from 2020-23.<\/p>\n
It takes intense concentration to scan the water in 10-30 second intervals, always alert, noticing who seems unsure, who might be new to the water, and who is not staying within arm\u2019s reach of their kid.<\/p>\n
It also takes selflessness. Town-Schon has swum across the rusty pipe of a storm sewer outflow during a rescue, through seaweed, and barnacles that tore up her skin.<\/p>\n
She never hesitates.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2019m running in for a rescue I\u2019m going to blow a whistle, get a hand on a walkie talkie, call for back up and I\u2019m gonna go. The other lifeguards are going to cover my water, and back me up if I need it,\u201d said Town-Shon.<\/p>\n
There is an implicit trust between team members that comes from their training.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know you are going to work as a team. If I\u2019m working with someone who has collapsed, I know someone else is going to clear the area, someone else is going to show up with the defibrillator.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lifeguards respond to everything, from \u201cminors\u201d like Band-Aid level scrapes, to \u201cmajors\u201d like water rescues. And yes, when you go into the water for a pee, they see that, too.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n