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You probably don’t need me to tell you that being a lifeguard means guarding people’s lives. That’s pretty much a given. The thing that many people fail to realize, however, is that it’s more than just an average job. Before you can even become certified, you have to take a 20 hour class in which you learn CPR, Emergency Breathing, First Aid, and how to recognize and save different types of drowning victims. At the end of the course, the instructor tests your skills and assesses your abilities. If you can swim 300 yards without stopping, retrieve a 10 pound brick from the bottom of the deep end of the pool, pass a series of written tests, perform CPR and Emergency Breathing on a dummy, pass a verbal First Aid test, and successfully rescue another person from the pool, then congratulations, you are now certified by the Red Cross. But that’s not all. If you apply for a job at Hastings Aqua Court, you also have to undergo up to 9 hours of training there. During this time, you learn all of the specific rules of the facility, maintenance duties, and skills such as how to backboard someone with a head, neck, or spinal injury against the current.

With all those hours of training under your belt, you are now supposedly ready to slather on sun screen and work an all-day shift on opening day, right? Not necessarily. Being a lifeguard is more than just sitting in a chair and getting a tan. You are personally responsible for the safety of the patrons. You must be able to stay calm and react quickly if something bad happens. On any given day, there is so much potential for disaster. Each day before work, I pray to God that no emergency will arise, and that if one does, I will have the strength and courage to do what needs to be done.

My first two days of work were pretty uneventful. Mostly, I just blew my whistle at children and told them not to run, climb on things, or do gainers off the diving board. Not too exciting. On my third day of work however, a situation arose where I had to save a life.

The day started out like any other. I worked my first three rotations and then took my lunch break. The next spot I was to go to was in the deep end of the wave pool. I got there a little before 2:00. About ten minutes later, the waves came on, so of course, all the kids rushed right over. It suddenly became very crowded. I scanned the areas that I was responsible for, not finding anything of interest. A group of middle school kids bobbed up and down with the waves. A few college students in tubes were floating around the pool. A little girl in a tube moved to deeper and deeper water. I scanned again. Middle school kids still bobbing. College students still floating. The little girl, however, had slipped out of her tube by the rope in the deep end. I watched her for a few seconds as she struggled to reach her tube again, and noted that she was not a strong swimmer. I heard her say “Help!” and then a wave knocked her under. When she came back up, she began actively drowning. There was no time to lose. We learned in our certification class that an active drowning victim has only 20-60 seconds before he or she loses consciousness and goes under. I blew my whistle three times, signaling to the other lifeguards that I was jumping in for a save. I pressed my red lifeguarding tube against my chest, and jumped in. Being a swimmer, I’m naturally good in the water. I reached the girl quickly, without a problem. In one fluid motion, I swam behind her, got her on her back, hooked my arms under her armpits and pulled her on top of my chest. One of the other lifeguards hit the emergency stop to shut the waves off. I could feel the child shaking in my arms as we moved to shallower water. I talked to her the whole time we were swimming to keep her calm.

When we reached a point where I knew she could touch the bottom, I set her down, and held her hand as we walked out of the pool together. I told her we had to go into the break room so I could ask her a few questions about what happened. The management team went to find her mother. When we got to the guard room, the other guards busied themselves with finding the girl a towel and a chair and keeping her comfortable. I don’t even really remember writing the report. All I know is that what had just happened suddenly hit me all at once, and I couldn’t stop shaking as I wrote. If I hadn’t been paying attention, the child could have died. After I was done documenting my save, she was reunited with her mother. There were 4 other saves that day besides mine. All of them were unattended young children and all occurred the wave pool or deep end.

This leads me to make a list of guidelines that all patrons at the Hastings Aqua Court should follow. Doing so will ensure the safety of everyone in the facility, both now and in the future:

Parents:

Please keep an eye on your young children. If you know that your child struggles with swimming, keep him or her away from crowded, dangerous areas such as the deep end and wave pool. Even if your child can swim well in the normal pool, carefully monitor him or her in the wave pool. Once the waves get going, it’s a whole other story.

Teenagers:

I know it’s fun to do gainers off the board and push your friends in the pool. And I know it’s lots of fun to play chicken or do flips off each other’s shoulders. But all of the above are against the rules. If a lifeguard tells you not to do something, don’t do it. Little kids easily pick up on what you’re doing, and think it’s okay for them to try. They don’t have the strength or skill to pull some of these things off without getting hurt. Be a role model. Not to mention, when you are engaging in these kinds of behaviors, your chances of getting a head, neck, or spinal injury are through the roof. If you hurt any of these three body parts in the water, we have to evacuate everyone in the entire pool…deep end, shallow end, monkey bars, basketball area and kitty pool, and turn off the slides. Then we have to swim with you while holding the back of your head and chin to keep your body in line until another guard can come with the backboard. Then we have to stabilize your head, and strap you to the board. After we pull you out of the pool, you have to make a little trip to the emergency room. Not a good way to impress your buddies.

Kiddos:

Water parks are fun and exciting, and you guys seem to want to go everywhere as fast as possible. Please make an effort to always walk from place to place. If you trip and fall while running, you’re going to get hurt. Just slow it down a little. I promise that the lazy river will still be there in 5 minutes.

Let’s all work together to make the rest of the summer both safe and enjoyable!

About the author: Kelli Poplau

Kelli Poplau is a native of Hastings and a sophomore at Hastings Senior High. Involved in volleyball, swimming, tennis, and yearbook, Kelli is a busy student athlete. She spends much of her time in the pool, training with both Hastings YMCA Aquatics Club and the Hastings High swim team. When she’s not studying or at practice, Kelli enjoys reading, writing, making jewelry, and finding things to do around the community with her friends. She loves living in a small town where everybody knows each other, and wouldn’t trade it for the world.