Thank you to aquatics staff, members and emergency responders Incident at Brockville YMCA

Dear Friends of the YMCA and Y Team:

I am writing to share my gratitude to everyone who assisted with the near-drowning that occurred at Brockville YMCA on Sunday.

Thanks to our capable aquatics team, trained bystanders and emergency response services for their skilled and timely response. Everyone involved played an important role in what could have been an even more tragic accident.

To our aquatics team, I am very proud of your quick thinking and actions. These speak not only to your training, but to the culture of teamwork in our association and the ongoing coaching provided by our general manager and aquatics expert, Emily Wimpenny. No one ever wants to face this type of situation and I hope you are heartened to hear from witnesses and medical staff that you carried out your duties without fault.

Many of you have expressed your concern about the individual involved. Under privacy laws, we are unable to provide information in that regard. I can, however, dispel some rumours that have been circulating. The facts are that the individual involved was not a child or teen; there was no altercation leading to the incident; there has been no death due to the incident.

The past few days have been extremely difficult for our lifeguards, the aquatics team and our entire staff. We have provided and will continue to make available a variety of supports to our aquatics staff. I would like to send a special thank you to members who have reached out with kind words and gestures to help the team rebound.

I wish you all a happy long weekend and, to those celebrating, a very happy Easter, Ramadan Mubarak and a joyous Passover.

Sincerely,

Rob Adams
CEO, YMCA of Eastern Ontario