Nursing prof helping to spread the word on life jackets

Stan French, an adjunct professor in the Nipissing University and Canadore College Collaborative Nursing program, was in the news recently for a campaign aimed at saving lives by showing the importance of wearing life jackets.

French, who is also the president of BAYSAR, a volunteer run search and rescue organization, was working with the local Ontario Provincial Police marine unit to launch the annual Let’s See You Wear Your PFD (personal floatation device) campaign. They spent a Saturday in late July flying over area waterways to see how many boaters were wearing life jackets.

Only a small percentage of boaters on Lake Nipissing typically wear life jackets. While the law only requires a boater to have enough life jackets in the vessel for each of its passengers, one never knows when disaster could strike. Wearing a PFD is key to survival in the water and greatly increases your chances of being seen from the air, and rescued.