City puts out call to recruit more lifeguards
Mayor Gainey ‘working diligently’ to open all 18 city pools, avoid shortage
With summer fast approaching, Pittsburgh is facing a familiar issue — a shortage of city pool lifeguards.
“We need to open up all our pools, and we need lifeguards to do [that],” Mayor Ed Gainey said Tuesday at Highland Park Pool, the city’s largest.
City and public works officials put out a call on Tuesday to recruit more lifeguards for the outdoor pool season, which begins on June 15. Last year, the city opened 15 of its 18 public pools for the summer — the highest number since the pandemic — and counted more than 126,000 swimmers using the facilities.
For similar results, the city needs more than 200 lifeguards to join its ranks this season.
“[Pools] are important to the community and are a refuge for young people who have a lot of time this summer,” CitiParks Director Kathryn Vargas said. “We will work with any young person who wants to learn to swim or be a guard.”
The struggle to hire lifeguards has plagued the city for several years. In 2022, when the city announced which pools would be able to be adequately staffed to open, Sue Murray Pool on the North Side was not among them. Community backlash led Mayor Gainey to reverse that decision.
The shortage mirrors a national trend, with about a third of the country’s 309,000 public pools remaining closed or opened sporadically last year, according to the American Lifeguard Association.
Ms. Vargas said those interested in lifeguarding need only to be vaccinated, be city residents and 16 years-old by September 2024. A training team will offer swim lessons, first aid certification and other lifesaving requirements.
Rookie lifeguard Grace Matthews was nervous when she signed up for her first training class last year.
“I didn’t have any prior lifeguarding skills; I wasn’t even the strongest swimmer,” she said. “But everybody was so supportive and welcoming and made sure I had all the skills and resources that I needed to be a successful lifeguard.”
Depending on experience, lifeguards can make between $16.48 and $19.05 an hour.
While a great first job for teenagers, Ms. Vargas said the city also needs more than 20 head lifeguards.
Charles Pitts-Bonner, a head lifeguard since 2005, said his role has allowed him to “educate [kids] and keep them safe.”
“It’s been my biggest passion,” he said. “I’m known as Uncle Charlie in the neighborhood.”
Mr. Gainey called being a lifeguard “an act of love.”
“It’s really about our children and creating safe environments for them to feel safe,” he said.
Mr. Gainey vowed his administration is “working diligently” to open every pool for the summer season.
Ms. Vargas said pools in Homewood and Bloomfield are under construction, and CitiParks will determine when they will be open within the next month.
Those interested in lifeguarding can visit the city’s website for more information.