A Guelph mother says she pulled her four-year-old daughter out of the water during a swimming lesson.
Kimberly Vogel says her daughter Cortana may have drowned had she not intervened.
“If I had not been watching her, I don’t think she’d be here today,” she said Wednesday.
Tuesday night, Cortana was taking part in her swimming lesson at the Victoria Road Recreation Centre.
Vogel says she was watching from poolside when she saw her daughter go under the water.
“All I could see were her two little hands, just barely above the water,” she said.
Vogel says she first thought Cortana would be able to recover on her own. After about 20 seconds, she says, she jumped in to grab her – without the instructor realizing what was going on.
Vogel says she wants the city to have two supervisors present during all swimming lessons.
“I feel it’s safer with two,” she says.
City officials declined to comment on the specific incident. They say they mandate a ratio of one supervisor for every five children between the ages of three and five. The Lifesaving Society, which sets the provincial standard, has a looser recommendation of one supervisor for every six kids in that age bracket.
With reporting by Stu Gooden
