Lifeguarding serious business for teen workers

As a lifeguard in the 1980s, Steve Neill had two pieces of equipment - a whistle and a ring-shaped buoy.

"The buoy," he laughs, "was more of a foot rest than anything."

Today, the aquatics director at the Arlington Heights Park District supervises 316 lifeguards armed with the same types of automated external defibrillators, spinal backboards and oxygen tanks used by doctors and nurses.

Their median age? Just 17.

In recent years, lifeguard training has advanced, jobs all the while still being filled by high school and college-age kids.

While aquatics directors say they have confidence in their trained staffs, they also concede the job isn't for everyone.

"We make it very clear from the beginning that if this is something you feel you can't handle, you should not pursue" said Jennifer Boys, the Des Plaines Park District's assistant superintendent of facilities. "You literally have peoples' lives in your hands on a daily basis. That is the level of severity of their position."

Certification

A majority of suburban park districts have their lifeguards certified through the Ellis and Associates training program.

The certification, which takes about 40 hours to complete, features a written test, along with training in automated external defibrillators, CPR and oxygen support.

Lifeguards must be able to swim 200 meters, tread water for two minutes, retrieve a 10-pound brick from the bottom of a diving well, and perform various water rescues on conscious and unconscious victims with the help of a rescue tube that's slung underneath a victim for buoyancy and a backboard.

Unlike years ago, when the emphasis on rescue training was overpowering a struggling swimmer and bringing him to safety, "all of the emphasis now is rescuing with the tube," Neill said. "Instead of being this strong, powerful individual doing the rescue, (the tube) has opened up the field to a lot more potential lifeguards."

Boys said she believes the lengthy certification process helps weed out teens who might not be suited for the job. A small percentage of applicants attempt the test again after failing the first time.

Before they hire guards, Neill and Elgin Aquatics Supervisor Greg Bruggeman both make guard applicants watch a videotape of a real drowning. Bruggeman then asks teens to write a mock letter to the victim's parents, and takes notes on their response.

"You can judge their maturity by what they write," he said. "Some can't grasp the seriousness of the situation. This isn't for everybody."

In-service

Through Ellis, guards are required to get four hours of on-the-job training each month.

Elgin guards, Bruggeman said, take part in two hours of training every Friday, and practice CPR daily before they go up in their chairs.

At Mystic Waters Aquatic Center in Des Plaines, lifeguards attend in-service training each morning at 8:45 a.m.

Taking turns playing victim and various rescue roles, managers throw out different scenarios - spinal injuries, an unconscious person, swimmers flailing to stay on the surface.

One recent morning, 19-year-old head guard Lindsay Jozefat oversaw the drills, afterward going over what guards have done right or wrong.

"You got to the victim right away," Jozefat told her crew. "You kept on talking to him. Keep doing that. Communication is key with a spinal. Keep that up, asking him the questions you'll need to fill out an incident report."

Steve Austin, 19, of Arlington Heights, has worked as a guard for the park district for the past two years, and has assisted in three minor saves.

On slow days, he says, he sometimes finds himself worrying about how he would react in a more serious situation.

"If you mix up the setting for an AED, that could be disastrous for a child," Austin said. "But I kind of think that all the hours of training would send me into that unconscious 'I know what to do' because I've done it so many times in practice."

Rescues

Despite all the training, pool managers say serious rescues are, for the most part, few and far between.

Jason Mata, Des Plaines' facilities manager, says the city had about 125 rescues this summer, the vast majority at Mystic Waters, its largest water park.

Neill says Arlington Heights guards have made 19 "saves"- two of them using the spinal backboard.

In Wheaton, staff at Northside Aquatic Center responded to a worst-case scenario on July 10.

Around 4 p.m., first-year lifeguard Jack Blanchard noticed a 3-year-old child floating face down in the pool.

Seeing that the child wasn't moving, Blanchard, 16, sounded his whistle, jumping in for the rescue.

When lifeguard Taylor Patterson, 19, couldn't find any sign of breathing or a heartbeat from the child, she administered CPR. This brought the child back, but the little girl started having a seizure.

"After a little bit, she gave a cough, and at that point we knew we got her," pool manager Tom Grace said.

Afterward, he said, the guards weren't visibly shaken up.

"Taylor just kind of went on with her normal day. Jack sat down and took a deep breath. I told him to take a couple laps in the pool, which he did, and then he got back in the chair."

The pair, along with Grace, received awards from the city of Wheaton for their heroism.

"You think sometimes, is this training really going to prepare these 16-year-olds for a situation they're going to handle? And they do," Grace said. "It was amazing to watch the guards do what they needed to do."

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