More than 70 BSU employees attended the Training on Water Safety and Drowning Prevention, spearheaded by the BSU Gender and Development (GAD) Office in coordination with the Bureau of Fire Protection-Cordillera Administrative Region (BFP-CAR), on December 4-7, 2023 at the Palm Grove Hot Springs and Mountain Resort in Tuba, Benguet.

The said training aimed to prevent drowning incidents, damages, casualty or injury, and other related emergencies through the application of proper rescue knowledge, techniques, and skills.

BFP-CAR personnel who served as resource persons were Bernard P. Safoket Jr., Michael Davis R. Rapayrapay, Preston M. Degway and Brix A. Copsiyan.

Prior to the training, Chief Finance Officer Andres Arnold W. Lampacan, one of the participants, commended the GAD Office for spearheading the activity. He said the skills to be learned from the activity are needed because these can be applied to save or help people during disasters.

“Daytoy nga basic skills (Water safety and drowning prevention skills) ket kasapulan nga maammuan tayo amin (These are basic skills that we need to know),” he said.

The trainers demonstrated different swimming skills such as bubbling, proper breathing, getting in and out of the water, and basic swimming strokes, among others. They also demonstrated water rescue and drowning prevention techniques using water rescue equipment including rope, flotation devices, and others. After the lecture and demonstration, the participants executed these skills with the guidance of the resource persons.

Degway emphasized the importance of wearing personal flotation devices to keep from drowning. He advised that anything that floats such as empty plastic bottles can become improvised floating devices.

The attendees from each batch expressed gratitude to the organizers, resource persons, and co-participants for making the event possible. They also shared insights, experiences, and feedback on what they have learned in the training.

“I was able to overcome my fear of water. Repetition helps in learning, as the BFP trainer said. If we keep practicing the simulations, it will register in our minds and when an actual situation comes, we'll be able to know how to react. We cannot help others if we, ourselves, don't know what to do,” said Jennelyn Licang-Fermin, one of the participants.