Lifeguards saves

[code3cadet]

I know from being a lifeguard that we have to jump in the pool and save people. How many have you had in one week. I have been a lifeguard for 3 weeks and I have had to make three save a week. I had two in one day this week.

[timmus]

i work as a lifeguard out here in Australia at a pool, and i had to save heaps of people this summer, sometimes 2-3 a day, sometimes none. Usually about 3 a week in summer. I find the main problem where i am is the parents of very young children just dont watch them at all and they walk into water that gets gradually deeper, then fall and cant get their footing.

[CAMPFRIEND]

I think that a lot depends on how mean you are as a lifeguard and if you are looking at the young children and talking to the before they get to deep. I have been a guard as well as had my LGI for more than 15 years. I have not had to jump in for many kids, but I have for adults who have had hart problems. After the save how many have had to do CPR? I know that I have and it was one of the worst days of my kife. I am happy that I could help!

[CD87]

I've never had to save anyone. I was a lifeguard at camp and we do swim testing before anything else at the pool. Kids say the test is pretty hard, so only relatively decent swimmers can go in the deep end. We didn't have to save anyone this summer.

CD

[runrachrunn]

As a guard, I've never had to jump into the pool to get a child, but while instructing, I ocasionally pick up my colleague's kids because they take their eyes off their pupils for whatever reason.

I think my biggest fear as a swim staff is having to deal with either a spinal victim, or really, any other "MAJOR". I always have an adrenaline rush whenever we have a major whistle blown... Scares the HECK out of me.

What types of incidents do you all generally deal with at your pools/camps?

[Melk]

I'v been a guard for 2 years and have had to do one reaching assist and had to jump in for a "fake" drownding swimmer. I think the amount of saves you do depends on how much you are paying attention to your swimmers. I know that if I see someone making a bad choice I will stop them.
***EDIT**** The saves and such that I have done were not at camp they were at the pool I guard at during the year. Also My camp has such a crazy hard swim test it would be hard to be put in a level of swimming that a camper was not ready for.

[rockinsmiles]

I'm not a lifeguard however, I know that this past summer "saving" was more common than I thought it would be. I have also never been present when a lifeguard has had to jump in for somebody. The majority of the campers who needed help were those who said they could swim and during the deep water test proved they couldn't.

[speedx5xracer]

I have never done a save while on duty at camp. I was told if im doing my job right i shouldnt have to save any one.

[Melk]

I was told if im doing my job right i shouldnt have to save any one.

me too. and it should be that way

[boilerswim7]

Like Melk mentioned, rigorous swimtests make things a lot easier. I've yet to have to save anyone, but even outside of camp, airhorns (our signal for a watersearch) give me the heebiejeebies and make my heartrate skyrocket.

[Melk]

airhorns (our signal for a watersearch) give me the heebiejeebies and make my heartrate skyrocket.

I concur.

[Lilbit88]

Even though I'm not a counselor[yet]..airhorns make my heart skip a beat anyways and I get nervous and I automatically want to run down to the waterfront.

[code3cadet]

I work at a pool that is 5 feet deep. I have anywere from 20-97 kids in the pool at all time some with older people. but most in there with just their friends. I can not do the swim test disney will not let us do it. most of the save's that i have done have been in 4 foot water and the kids think that they can swim but they can not. yester day I jump in and when I got to the girl she told me that she did not need my help and stood up. It made me so mad

[who_stole_my_loofa]

lilbit/boilerswim- we use the airhorn water system too and i know what you mean. we always do airhorn practice during staff training and its so serious and so so scary- i hate it. were very lucky though and we have not had to use the airhorn since 1999 (thankfully), but in 1999 when i was a camper i remember the airhorn and it was terrifying! ill never forget because i was at photography which is by the lake and they made us go in a junior boys cabin to get out of the way and so we couldnt see. everyone was crying and freaking out but it turned out ok in the end.

as a comment to the actual post... what speedx said is the truth! my camp is under the school of thought that if you do your job right youll never have to "save" lives.


on another note.. not to start debate or anything, but i cant believe some of yall are bragging about how many lives youve saved. at my camp if someone saves a life they dont get any special treatment- just a pat on the back and a hearty thank you and thats the end of it. its a life, not a trophy.

[camper]

we use whistle blasts. the waterfront director teaches us in the beginning what each type of whistle means.

[Melk]

loofa- I hate it too. During training we have a super religous grup come and use camp.We have a suprise search during the time that this group is in. It annys me to the point where I want to yell at them when they yell comments to us as we are running to the beach saying "Keep your pants on" and "oohhh we dont need to see that"...... HELLO!?! We could be saving your life. There was also a time this past summer when we were running threw a practice search at the begining of the summer and staff were laughing and not taking it seriously before the horn blew. I chewed them out for that. I was so upset.

[Flukie]

We have an airhorn on the beach that blows to alert upper camp and to call the boats back in. At the sound of the airhorn, someone in upper camp (generally Ad-Staff) hits the camp siren. All campers and staff evacuate to the the dining hall (minus the dive team that goes straight to the water). On the beach, the red flag is hoisted and all sailboats and windsurfers have to come in, beach, and head to the dining hall.

The siren went off accidently this summer once - seriously almost gave me a heart attack!

[speedx5xracer]

We use the air horn as well. Once it is sounded all guards report to either the pool or lake. generals and specialists hold the campers at their current location and the director calls 911 and the nurses prepare for the immediate treatment. Campers onthe water come back to shore quickly ditch boats/paddles adn grab their buddy tag. Campers ont eh Rave sit down and stay there if safe. The campers returing to shore then sit by a speciality shop and wait. We had one drill this year that I orchastrated with my supervisor and a camper we can trust. it scared the hell out of the rest of the campers and staff that were not informed. THe bad part is that the responding guards failed the test and the water front director was pissed and made all of us go over the EAP that evening during dinner and going into our time off.

[Melk]

we should have had a search this summer. A kid left his buddy chip on the board and only one person saw him leave..... a lot of people got super mad at our waterfront director for not calling a search.

when our searches are called every one reports to their cabin benches at the waterfront and face away from the lake where their names are called while the rest of the staff run from where they were at camp and begin searching the water.... super scary.

[boilerswim7]

oh man, melk, i was at the buddy board when that happened this summer. i had just finished letting my class get back to the benches when we saw the chip on the board... i was only about 3 feet from the airhorn and let me tell ya, i almost grabbed the thing and blew it in the waterfront director's ear.

[Flukie]

when our searches are called every one reports to their cabin benches at the waterfront and face away from the lake where their names are called while the rest of the staff run from where they were at camp and begin searching the water.... super scary.

Whoa... Did I understand this right? Your kids are on the waterfront while the search is going on?? That's like, even more scary I would think! I'd be so freaked out as a camper! We do check in at the dining hall so that they don't see what is going on. Each unit comes in and gives their unit name and count (Number of staff, number of CITs, number of campers). God forbid we ever did pull up a body (because honestly, that's probably what we're searching for...), we definitely wouldn't want them down there.

[Melk]

they are on the waterfront but not on the beach part. That part is roped off and the benches are on the side of the rope furthest from the lake. It's really the only place we can have the kids. Our lodge has gotten so small we have to split the camp in half for meal times. By having the kids sit at their cabin benches, they are sitting in a spot that is just for their cabin. And they are not watching us search the water.... they sit stradling the benches facing away from the water. All kids who come to camp know what a water search looks like though. At the begining of each session we have waterfront orentation where we go over rules and show the kids (also giving us practice) what the search looks like.

[Melk]

oh man, melk, i was at the buddy board when that happened this summer. i had just finished letting my class get back to the benches when we saw the chip on the board... i was only about 3 feet from the airhorn and let me tell ya, i almost grabbed the thing and blew it in the waterfront director's ear.

ummmm are you sure..... this happened on low down dirty day.....

[boilerswim7]

i might be smashing memories together, but i remember very clearly standing on the lake side of the rope, by the buddy board, taking chips off when MrWaterfront was oh-so-sure that he saw that kid leave. low down and dirty day would've made sense, because i was guarding for the mudpit kids.

[runrachrunn]

low down and dirty day would've made sense, because i was guarding for the mudpit kids.

wHAT KIND OF Camp do you work for, LOL!!!

[Melk]

wHAT KIND OF Camp do you work for, LOL!!!

ha ha ha... I dont know if that was ment to be more serious... but that made me giggle.... then miss camp a lot more.

[boilerswim7]

this is so off topic, but sundays of 2 week sessions are deamed "low down and dirty day." the ultimate goal- get really dirty. we take our mud pits very seriously. it's very high-grade mud. :cool: in any case, after getting muddy, or covered in paint or pie filling or flour or whatever else we find... everyone rinses off in the lake. it can get pretty chaotic.

[Melk]

Going off what boilerswim7 said, we even have a whole system for how many people are in the water at a time and how long they can stay in the water.... mostly because that one kid did leave his chip on the board during the second session.

[CAMPFRIEND]

I miss search!! I never had one when I was the waterfront director.

[rockinsmiles]

We don't actually have drill searches at my camp. Are they just used for the lake? And what exactly then is the lake used for? I'm sure during the lifeguard training that searches are gone over (seeing as the training is done in the lake and that the director must be "saved" from the bottom of the lake) though.

[katy007]

i agree. swim tests definitly work. i never have had to save anyone. i have from other things but never drowning. we make them get in the shallow end and watch how they swim...and if they do good we ask if they want to jump off the diving board..if their comfortable..and if they do then they jump off swim to the side...and then every girl does that then we make them tred water for 1 minute. its a little hard cuz their lungs are so tiny. but it really helps who are your strong swimmers.

[Melk]

We don't actually have drill searches at my camp. Are they just used for the lake? And what exactly then is the lake used for? I'm sure during the lifeguard training that searches are gone over (seeing as the training is done in the lake and that the director must be "saved" from the bottom of the lake) though.

We use our lake for everything. We have no pool so the search is used for the lake.

[softballkid019]

i just became a lifeguard before last summer. i wasn't a hired lifeguard at my camp but they did have me help out and guard from time to time at the pool and help out when needed at the lake. our lakes are mainly used for boating and such. we actually do not swim in our lakes and everytime our girls even put a toe into the lake they must be wearing a life jacket. we don't have a airhorn system for our camp but we do have use a whistle blast system. for the most part we really only have to use it up at the pool. all last summer we did have to make any saves. our camp does a swim test to see if the girls can swim. it has only been during these tests when i am in the water with the girls that i have had to grab there arm and help them back to the wall. i think it really helps that we do swim test so we know ahead of time where the girls are and are not allowed to swim.

[Belay06]

I'm a lifeguard during the camping season and the non camping season. I have never had to save someone (knock on wood) but i have taken kids out of the water who look distressed and made them rest on the dock for a bit and then go and grab a noodle or something to help them out a bit. We run drills every single week for the waterfront. We have an "all counselor" drill where every counselor except 2 that counts kids and the CITS run down to the dock and the divers go into the deep end and the non lifeguards search the shallow ends. Then along with that during an actual open swim time once a week we will have a drowning victim drill where a victim (usually a CIT, a relative of a counselor, or another counselor) will pretend to be an active or passive victim and we will have to clear the lake and start the EAP (which is just whistle blows, we don't sound the siren) and then we rescue them.

Last summer, i got the first drill pulled on me and two of the CIT boys came out in kayaks with there lifejackets unbuttoned and they were pretending to hit each other with paddles. I told them to stop and then one of the boys jumped in and pretended to drown. NO ONE told me that a drill would be going on but i was completely suspicious considering that the CIT happened to be captain of his swimming team and a better swimmer than me haha. Then the very last drill i got to pull on someone :) The person didn't rescue me fast enough so i went from a passive drowning victim to an active one! so they had to grab the board to pull me out hehehe.

I do remember when i was a camper though, maybe my second year of camp (so about 5 years ago) there was an actual drill. The siren went off on like a thursday which is super rare and we were all cleared from the swimming area. I remember running up the steps of the lodge and being totally freaked out. I think that when the siren goes off its just as scary for campers as it is for counselors. It turned out though that it was just a kid who didn't sign out on the buddy board and he left the waterfront area without telling anyone.

[code3cadet]

Hay I have not looked at this in like a year. well when I was done with Disney I was up to 17 saves in 6 mouths. Now I am around 18 saves. After leaving Disney I made one save. But I've been a lifeguard for 2 1/2 years. The only other save other then Disney's was a girl I was teaching to swim. She went upside down and stopped swimming. that was a fun save :-(

[ARam_Kelp]

I shadowed at the lake and pool most of last summer, and we never had anything more serious than a couple of assists to girls who panicked while they were taking swim tests. We haven't had anything much more serious than that.

I agree on the airhorn thing though. We don't have drills but, if the air horn goes off all lifeguards and life guard certified staff have to go straight to the lake and search it until the missing person is found. I really hope this never happens.