Just In Case Times Have Changed And So Have Skills Of Lifeguards - Health Issues, Harassment And Anger Control Are All Part Of Today’s Job
In this age of political correctness, ozone depletion and sexually transmitted diseases, even a summer job like lifeguarding is awash with complexities.
No longer do students, free for the summer, merely pass swim safety courses, don bright bathing suits and hit the beach, whistle in hand and white lotion splotched on their noses.
Now they wear SPF 30 sunblock to ward off skin cancer. They submit urine for drug tests. And they learn to protect themselves from contracting HIV while cleaning scraped knees.
“We’re in the middle of the ‘90s, and lots of wild and crazy stuff is going on,” said Randy Johnson, recreation supervisor for the Spokane County Parks Department. “The county is very concerned about training its staff.”
Swimming beaches at Liberty and Bear lakes opened last Friday. The city’s seven pools opened last Saturday. The county’s four pools open Friday.
More than 160 young people - in full battle gear - have been hired to save lives.
“When I started lifeguarding in 1981, I was given a whistle and a T-shirt and told to go to work and keep my eyes off the girls,” said David Early, the city’s recreation supervisor.
Young people today, Early said, have to deal with a host of problems. Today’s lifeguards take gang awareness courses. They learn to wear protective masks and gloves in classes on blood-born diseases. And for the third year in a row, they’ve learned about sexual harassment.
“They teach you how to deal with heckling patrons,” said lifeguard Alan Bly, 17. And, he added, “if you see a good-looking girl, you’re not going to whistle.”
New classes and requirements are tougher for the older lifeguards, said Bly, who works at Valley Mission Park. The younger guards start out learning the procedures, but the older ones have to adapt to change.
Even procedures for bandaging a cut knee were different five years ago, said Jennifer Semerad, 24, the lifeguard supervisor at Holmberg Park.
“When I first started,” she said, “you were more worried about the kid than the blood.” Now, she said, “If a kid comes in with a bloody nose, I put something between me and the blood.”
All the new requirements could stack up to a tall order for a 16-yearold, the age of the youngest lifeguards. Young people can take basic lifesaving at 15, but must be 16 to work.
Lifeguard supervisor Kathy Parsons said most of the staff ranges in age from 16 to 21. For example, at Liberty Lake where she works, three out of the 10 guards are minors - high school students at Gonzaga Prep, Central Valley and East Valley high schools. The others are mostly college students.
New equipment required by the Red Cross this year is a long hot dogshaped foam rescue tube, attached to a tow line then strapped across the guard’s chest.
Other new equipment will make lifeguards more identifiable this summer. The county’s 45 guards will wear tan plastic safari-type hats marked: “Spokane County Parks Staff,” in red letters.
“The kids were saying, ‘They’re all going to think we’re rangers,”’ Parsons said. “They’re hating it.”
The hats, with their wide brims, also were chosen by parks officials to help protect the lifeguards from the sun. Last year, Semerad said, one guard had blisters on his ears from overexposure to the sun.
“Actually, these are good to have,” she said, after donning the hat and joking about going on a safari. “(Parks officials) are really concerned with us being in the sun so much. You can get skin cancer.”
New drills and procedures will keep guards on their toes. In weekly, simulated “white hat drills,” a swimmer is recruited to play the part of a drowning or spinal injury victim. The victim appears suddenly, floating facedown in the water or splashing and coughing in the deep end.
Guards must react immediately and save the person within a targeted response time of 30 seconds.
“When you do (the drill),” said Semerad, “you have such an adrenalin rush. You’re put in a spot where - boom! - you have to respond.”
The procedure for dealing with spinal injuries is also different this summer, Parsons said. In the past, up to six guards have been used to strap a victim to a backboard in deep water. This year, only two guards will perform the procedure.
“It’s not a glamorous job. We have to pick up cigarette butts on the beach and scrub goose poop off the docks,” Parsons said. “But it sure beats flipping burgers at Wendy’s.”
, DataTimes