The pleasures of summertime on the Great Lakes carry a risk: drowning.
The Great Lakes Water Safety Consortium has been tracking drownings in the Great Lakes since 2010. They're up to nearly 590 deaths.
Most of those could have been prevented. The group's mission is to try and do just that.
Jamie Racklyeft is leading the Great Lakes Water Safety Consortium. This mission is very personal to him. In 2013, he nearly drowned in a Lake Michigan rip current.
Racklyeft joined Stateside host, Cynthia Canty to share his story and the life-saving efforts he is leading.
Just after Racklyeft was saved, he said a 16-year-old boy got caught in the same rip current.
"And no one saved him," he said. "That’s why I started the Great Lakes Water Safety Consortium”.
Listen above.
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