The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Lifeguards receive training for pool season
Lifeguards readily take on a huge responsibility of saving lives and preventing injuries around water.
Therefore it is critical that they are prepared for such a huge task and that means being trained in rescue and first-aid techniques.
“We do our lifeguard training course through the American Red Cross,” said Willoughby Parks and Recreation Program Director Jim Clark. “It comes in a couple of different ways of delivery.”
There is an in-person course format which is 25 hours and 20 minutes and the blended learning course format. The blended learning course is 19 1/2 hours inperson and 7 1/2 hours online, according to the American Red Cross.
“We have been doing the blended course,” Clark said. “We do the course over four days. The first day prospective lifeguards work on skills for the pre-skills test.”
For example, they are required to complete a timed swim with a surface dive to retrieve a 10 pound object, then return it to the starting point.
“That takes technique,” he said. “I realized that we were losing people because they didn’t have the technique. So that additional day of practice helps prepare them for the test. We had 29 lifeguards in the course this year and everyone passed.”
One of the prerequisites for lifeguard training is that the students must be at least 15 years old by the last day of class.
While many of the lifeguards are young, Clark said the majority of them do take the job seriously.
“We hire a staff about 70 to 80 lifeguards per summer,” he said, “We only lose about two because of maturity. That’s a 98 percent success rate, so we do well.”
First-time lifeguard Myla Hodge, who is 15 years old, said she has learned a lot through this summer opportunity.
“I took the class and loved it,” she said. “I learned how to do CPR, how to identify if someone was drowning, how to deal with it and how to stay calm in emergency situations. Before if I saw someone in a dangerous situation, I would not have known how to respond.”
Clark explained that there are a lot of misconceptions about lifeguards.
“People think lifeguards just sit in a chair, but there’s so much more to it,” he said.
In addition to the initial training course, lifeguards must attend at least one of the two in-services held each week.
Clark says the in-service trainings review skills and day-to-day operations.
“It’s not an easy job,” he said. “They really want to help people. They even enjoy the little stuff like getting bandaids.”
Lifeguards often use the skills learned to transition to become instructors. Those interested receive additional training to teach swim lessons, like the specialized adaptive swim lessons the city offers.
“This is my sixth year here,” said Willoughby Assistant Pool Manager Michaela Yerse.
The 20-year-old, who is also the learn-to-swim coordinator, said she has been following in her family’s footsteps.
“My whole family has basically worked here,” she said. “Specifically, my mom was a manager, all my uncles were lifeguards and my grandfather was a manager here.”
Although Yerse has always been a strong swimmer, she said she gained many great skills.
She also works as a lifeguard and swim instructor at Kent State University.
“It’s cool to help others and knowing I could save somebody’s life,” Yerse said. “It’s a job where you’re actually doing something that makes a difference.”