Safety is 'Job One' for lifeguards

Even with a respite from the heat this week, summer officially does not end until September 21. As we look at the weather forecast for the next few weeks, temperatures will return to the 80's and the question on everyone's mind will be how to stay cool. Why then, does Mystic Waters Family Aquatic Center close before Labor Day weekend? The answer is simple, customer safety.

At capacity, on a hot day, 1,500 swimmers visit Mystic Waters to enjoy the water slides, diving platforms and drop slides, lazy river, zero depth pool, and splash playground. Their supervision and safety is entrusted to a staff of lifeguards, college and high school students, who are trained and certified by the Jeff Ellis and Associates International Pool and Waterpark Training Course before the season starts. Their initial 20 hours of course training includes a written test, water safety and rescue techniques, CPR, first aid, AED (automated external defibrillator) certification, and oxygen support training. Lifeguards, who must be at least 15 years old, also must be able to tread water using only their legs for one minute, swim 100 yards of front crawl or breaststroke continuously, and be able to retrieve a ten pound brick from a twelve foot depth and return poolside before being admitted to the training program.

Once assigned to a pool, the guards spend another 10 to 15 hours of in-service training at their facility before opening. Sixteen licensed lifeguards work during a typical shift at Mystic Waters when all the attractions are open; there are fourteen stations, and two rotating positions for each seven-hour shift. In order to be open for regular season hours, Mystic Waters employs two shifts of guards per day. The guards rotate pool positions every 20 minutes and take ten to fifteen minute breaks every ninety minutes. This method of musical chairs helps to keep them fresh, focused, and able to concentrate on their job. Moving to a new watch zone keeps their scanning from becoming stagnant. One lifeguard will watch the water while the other leaves his post, and then that lifeguard scans the water while the next guard takes his new position.

The guards are positioned according to the Ellis and Associates 10/20 zone policy, where a lifeguard must be able to scan their zone in ten seconds and identify a swimmer in trouble, and then reach that swimmer within twenty seconds. Mystic Waters lifeguards have one of the most demanding, serious, and difficult part time summer jobs of all the Des Plaines Park District summer staff. While the public is splashing and relaxing, the guards, ever vigilant, watch for unsupervised children and poor swimmers who find themselves in water over their heads. They are responsible for insuring people follow the rules set for the health and safety of everyone who visits the pool.

During the summer, Mystic guards practice daily, swim laps to stay fit, and attend in-service for one hour before their shift starts. Many return every year, are recertified, and spend another summer as lifeguards. Jason Mata, Mystic Waters Supervisor, estimates that the guards have had to make over 200 saves so far this season. “Often saves are made when children are left unattended or wander way from their family or friends,” Mata said. “However, in the seventeen years the pool has been open, there has never been a drowning,” he said.

The public's safety is entrusted to the staff, who function as authority figures when it comes to the safety rules and regulations. Guards are on the watch for excessive horseplay and dangerous activities like running on the deck, performing flips or diving off the deck into shallow water, dunking or throwing people into the water, and hanging on the ropes. Guards are trained to recognize the difference between splashing, playing, and drowning.

“Being a lifeguard takes a lot more effort than just sitting in a chair and applying sunscreen. Keeping your mind alert in the sun, making sure guests are doing what they should be doing, even parents and adults many years their senior, handling first aid emergencies, and rescuing patrons in distress is not a job for just anyone. The training is intense, because the job is intense,” Mata said. Jennifer Boys, Assistant Superintendent of Recreation agrees. “Safety is our number one priority,” she said.

In the beginning of summer, Mystic Waters has about 60 lifeguards on staff; another 20 work at the neighborhood pools. Towards the middle of August, more than two thirds of the guards go back to college, leaving a staff of guards who are in high school or attend local schools. The Maine Township High Schools and other neighboring suburban high schools start their fall term on August 22. “Every year we post a sign up sheet asking if any of the lifeguard staff is available to work evenings or weekends later in August or September. Obviously, they cannot work during the day, as they are in school. We do not get enough staff to sign up to work those extra days because as school begins so do the students extra curricular activities and commitments,” said Boys. “Many of the Mystic lifeguards are in clubs, sports, or activities that take up their nights and weekends. Without an experienced, trained staff, it would not be safe to open the pool,” Boys said.

Park District pools across the northwest suburbs rely on students to staff their pools and summer programs. While the application process for a job as a lifeguard is open to anyone with the swimming skills necessary who also completes the Ellis Training, the applicants tend to only be college and high school students. No professional staffing organization for lifeguards exists, and the Des Plaines Park Districts insists that lifeguards train at the specific facility where they work.

The final weekend at Mystic Waters, August 25 and 26, will be staffed by 16 guards, as required to open all the attractions at the pool for the seven-hour shift of noon to 7:00pm. After that, residents looking to take a dip can swim at the Rosemont Indoor Pool, 6101 Ruby Street, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 8:00-9:30pm, Thursday and Friday from 6:30-9:30pm, and Saturday from 1:00-4:00pm, for $2, (seniors free, children under 16, $1). The Des Plaines Park District will also be offering swimming lessons Monday and Wednesday evenings, and Saturday mornings beginning on September 10. Group lessons

will be taught for children and adults.

For more information about aquatics and fall Des Plaines Park District programs, call 847- 391-5700 or visit www.DPParks.org