Heading out onto lakes and rivers during the summer months can be a fun recreational activity, but as we’ve seen many times before fun can turn to tragedy in a hurry. With that in mind, it’s important to remember to bring life jackets whenever you’re planning to be out on any body of water.

Perry Parks and Recreation Aquatics Director Kami Kirchner says it’s Iowa law that any child age 13 and under must be wearing a life jacket at all times while on a boat. For anyone older than that, the requirement is that there must be a life jacket fitted to them on the boat. Kirchner explains what “fitted to a person” means. “Each life jacket has a different weight limit on it. Like the smallest one is usually 0-50 pounds, and then 50-90 and they just kind of keep going up from there. But not only that, you want to make sure that it fits snug around your chest. At your shoulders, you don’t want more than about an inch of space. And you don’t want it to come up over your head, because that’s not a well-fitted life jacket, and it’s going to be very uncomfortable and possibly cause injury for you.”

Kirchner adds, even strong swimmers should use life jackets whenever they’re on the water. To learn more about water safety, click the link below to listen to the Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program with Kirchner.

https://raccoonvalleyradio.com/2018/05/lets-talk-dallas-county-5232018-kami-kirchner/