CALGARY — Calgarians looking to swim laps or splash around at indoor water parks are running into capacity limits and pool closures at some facilities due to a lack of staff.
Lifeguards, in particular, are hard to come by for large operators such as the YMCA and City of Calgary Recreation.
"(Lifeguards) require re-certification every two years, so really we've had nearly two years of being unable to certify staff and that's definitely left a shortage in lifeguarding," said Nick Wiggins, senior director of operations at YMCA Calgary.
"It's not just here, but across Calgary and right across the province."
Wiggins says they are looking to hire for 100 open lifeguard positions at YMCAs across the city.
"We're probably at about 50-60 per cent of where we would like to be when it comes to capacity," he said. "Sadly that means not everyone can just come in and swim when they want to."
Though COVID-19 health restrictions were lifted in Alberta months ago and pools are allowed to reopen, the doors at some city pools remain shuttered.
The pools at the Shouldice Aquatic Centre, Acadia Aquatic and Fitness Centre, Foothills Aquatic Centre and Village Square and Southland Leisure Centres are all closed as the city tried to re-hire hundreds of staff members laid off during the pandemic.
"Staffing has been the biggest constraint to the city being able to open recreation facilities to the public," said Jarret Hoebers, regional operations manager with Calgary Recreation.
The city laid off around 1,200 employees in November 2020, including staff with the recreation department, when COVID-19 health restrictions forced the shutdown of all gyms and pool facilities. Some were hired back when select facilities reopened since then, but it is taking time to fill the positions needed to run classes and operations at city facilities.
"Since training and certification opportunities were very limited during COVID-related closures, we are running additional certification courses to speed the process along, but it may be some time before we are back to our pre-COVID staff complement and full facility operations," Hoebers said.
