More swimming pools hiring senior citizens as lifeguards
‘Your age does not matter ... as long as you can save a life.’
When children see Robert Allen in the lifeguard chair at the Canal Winchester YMCA, they quickly check out his socks.
“I have socks with cupcakes on them, chocolate cookies and milk, dinosaurs, bacon and eggs,” said Allen, who on a recent weekday morning was sporting colorful jelly-bean hosiery. “That’s the first thing the kids look for.”
Allen wears the novelties to cover up the compression socks he wears for medical reasons.
As a prostate-cancer survivor with circulation problems in his legs, the 70-yearold is hardly a stereotypical lifeguard.
These days, though, Allen isn’t the only senior citizen patrolling the deck with a whistle, fanny pack and rescue tube.
Nationwide, fewer teenagers are seeking summer jobs, forcing pools throughout the Columbus area and nationwide to broaden their recruiting efforts and hire more older guards.
“Your age does not matter to us,” said Bertha Obayuwana, a talent recruiter for the YMCA of Central Ohio, which oversees the 13 branches in the area. “You can be 100 years old, and it’s fine. As long as you can save a life, that’s all that matters.”
Obayuwana said the YMCA has 82 openings for lifeguards, which means its 21 pools are 22 percent under their preferred staffing level of 374 guards.
In Dublin, the three city pools employ about 130 lifeguards but would prefer to have 150, said aquatics-operations coordinator Kate Futty.
At the Northwest Swim Club, a private pool on Bethel Road, general manager David Shepherd said he is so shortstaffed that “I certified myself this year.”
“If you have a lifeguard certification, we will hire you,” Shepherd said. “Finding lifeguards is extremely difficult right now.”
In contrast, officials at the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department said they are in good shape this summer at their nine pools. Bernita Reese, assistant director of community recreation, said about 80 percent of their 120 or so lifeguards are teenagers.
Yet the trend nationally is very different.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the percentage of teens working during the summer break has dropped substantially in the past 40 years, from 71.8 in 1978 to 43.2 in 2016. Because lifeguarding traditionally has been dominated by teenagers and college students, the job has been hit especially hard.
Chris Tamasovich, director of risk management and aquatic safety for the YMCA of Central Ohio, said he hears about the struggle to hire young lifeguards from aquatics directors throughout the country.
“We are all seeing the same thing,” he said. “It may be that young individuals don’t want to take on the responsibility the job entails. Lifeguards are first responders with a lot of responsibility.
“We also hear a lot that young people just don’t have the time.”