I get no great pleasure from seeing my old beach patrol on LBI make national news at least not for the reasons now.
I have been a lifeguard for 35 years, and have made a career as afull-time year-roundaquatic safety, rescue and training professional.For much of it, I haveadvocated that lifeguards are good at their jobs not in spite of theiryouth, energy, gregarious nature and feelings of immortality, butbecause of them. These are the qualities that make lifeguards available for seasonal employment, practiced at long hours of concentration, capable of bursts of athleticism, confident at making rescues, proficient at working as a team, gifted at making connections, and adored by young people, many of whom see excitement or glory in the job and aspire to the position one day.
That said, lifeguarding is often a teens or young adults first job, and the curve for learning not just lifesaving skills, but also employment skills can be steep. While they navigate this position that includes elements of medicine, sport, liability, public relations, administration and more, they have, on occasion, been known to make some poor choices.
Case in point: gathering en masse during a pandemic, which has resulted in a bloom of COVID-19 cases among lifeguards on LBI and elsewhere.
At best, the lifeguards actions have a ripple effect (pun intended) that negatively impacts the Islands economy, as the outbreak has forced work stoppages in restaurants, retail shops and clubs that employ those lifeguards family and friends.Many of those establishments took great precautions to avoid this and, through no fault of their own or their employees, are suffering.At worst, those lifeguards compromisedpublic health and safety, resulting from understaffed beaches, not to mention the spread of a mysterious mutating disease.
So its tempting to trash lifeguards as immature and irresponsible,and make them the villainsin this episode.After all, many of them failed in their primary objective to protect human life at the beach.We count on them to be there, and they risked that.But for lifeguardsto be successful, in lifesaving and beyond, they need guidance and support and examples from a variety of sources: parents, supervisors, colleagues and the public they serve.If the goal is to prevent drowning, the second leading cause of accidental death among children and young adults, we need lifeguards to be successful.We need lifeguards, period.
Since the positive performance of lifeguards is important to all of us for public safety, property values, tourism and more heres how you (yes, YOU!), no matter what your relationship to a lifeguard, can help ensure their professional triumph.
They Are Not Kids. We hear it all the time.How many kids do you have working thissummer?The answer: none.That lifeguard in the chair may be your child, but he or she is not a child.Would you trust a kid with your most precious commodity your life and that of your child or children in an inherently dangerous environment like the ocean?Change your language.Use young professional.Or simply lifeguard. If you call them kids, you will invite kid behavior.And you will be tempted to forgive the errors in judgment that are part of gaining experience rather than holding them accountable and helping them learn from their mistakes.
Attending a group gathering during a pandemic is one such lapse.If any parents or supervisors facilitated, condoned or ignored this, they are complicit in this outbreak.
Work and Home. The expectations oflifeguards are the same as members of a family, and the lessons gained through employment underscore those taught at home. Do your fair share.Pick up yourown stuff.Be ready when its time to go.Call if youre going to be late.While the lifeguard is responsible for his or her own employment conduct and communication, support for the job at home starts with parents involving their lifeguard in their family schedule and knowing how far in advance they need to request days off.It includes expectations of readiness, so details for transportation and lunch can be coordinated.It followsthrough job performance, with discussions about how sleep, hydration, alcohol and events that pose potential virus exposure positively and negatively affect a lifeguards ability to fulfill their duties.
Not Your Daddys Beach Patrol.Or your moms.Lifeguarding traditions are passed through generations,in families and in agencies.While today more than 60 percent of U.S. lifeguards are women, allare following in a historically male-dominated institution.Some patrols are deeply rooted in a bravado-fueled value system where binge drinking and licentious behavior are still exalted rites of passage.Working through a hangover is not a reason to brag; its a reason to stay home without pay.If youre a lifeguard trying to live up to the old lore, or a supervisor or parent trying to recapture or pass on that experience, stop.Perpetuating a drunken hook-up culture is physically, emotionally and financially dangerous.
Many things in lifeguarding have changed: the science, the equipment, the role of women, the risks of intimaterelations and, oh yeah, the virus.
Overcoming Public Perception.The zealous unity among lifeguards, especially seasonal ones, comes from having to be their own cheerleaders.Many lifeguards feel (or are) degraded compared to their brothers and sisters in police, fire and EMS thatgetbetter pay,more benefitsandgreater respect.But by the time someone calls 911, the crisis has already occurred.Lifeguards are the onlyemergency medical responders charged with drowning prevention andrecognition.They have to vigilantly watch, firmly and politely warn, keenly recognize even the subtlestsigns of distress, and intervene before a situation worsens withtheir bodies, not shiny vehicles with lights and sirens.Lifeguarding is not the bottom of the EMS hierarchy.It is aspecialty.Behaving badly compromises credibility.
Lifeguards for Life. The U.S. Lifesaving Association slogan suggests membership in an elite club of people with a shared experience in water rescue not just for the duration of your life, butin all aspectsof your life.That means that as a lifeguard, you bring honor to the profession as an example of skill and safety in everything you do.You are clean, polished, professional, attentive and sober on and off the job.Your behavior withstands public scrutiny, and your social media profiles do not undermine the reputation of a person tasked with the serious responsibility of protecting human life. And dont even get me started on the number of lifeguards I see riding to work on their bicycles without a helmet, buoy can in one hand and phone in the other.No lifeguardshould consider himself or herself an exception to the rule; they must be examples of it.
We Cant Control What They Do Off Duty.Nope, we cant. But performance at work is influenced by off-duty activities. Want to curtail drinking on Saturday night? Schedule mandatory in-services early Sunday morning. Want to limit large gatherings? Establish group size limits in your daily operations. Leaders need to set a strong workplace example in this health crisis. Arrange stands 6 feet apart. Schedule lifeguards in staggered shifts, and with the same partner(s) all season. Conduct training in pods to minimize large-group interaction. Require masks for daily meetings, and hold them outdoors or on Zoom. Demonstrate pandemic awareness in every aspect of your operation. Then you can establish consequences for activities both on and off the job that risk the health of your staff and patrons and the smooth running of your team, as the NFL just did.
Manyof us cringed and held our breath as we watched lifeguards conduct themselves as usual.But this summer is anything but usual.And agencies were vulnerable to the characteristics of lifeguards that occasionally hurt their performance as well as often help it.The lifeguards recent social interaction has caused interruptions in even the most proactive of patrols.That just means we need to keep at it.Do your contact tracing.Dont knowingly put lifeguards on the pineif someone in your crew tests positive.If the spread among lifeguards reveals cracks in your prevention strategy, fill them in now,like a sand hole thats ready to collapse.
Show them how theyve hurtthemselves,and not just their reputations.Was that one party worth two weeks of lost wages and 14 days in quarantine?Did the missed work time cost them eligibility for an award or consideration for a promotion? They say they love their big family-like crew?Well then, when you dismiss half your beach patrol to get a COVID test during work hours, make them acknowledge the brothers and sisters they left on the wood.And while youre at it, publicly thank the lifeguards who did not have to be excused for three hours on a work day.A little recognition for making the responsible choice only to end up taking on the extra coverage never hurts.
Is this on them? Absolutely. The lifeguards are the responsible parties. They disregarded public health warnings, state mandates and likely the advice of their parents and the rules of their agency. At this age, they think theyre unbreakable. Most people, young and old, wont believe something until they experience it for themselves. Many of the lifeguards affected (and infected) are still on the road to adulting. Theyve not had enough life experience to know what we know firsthand. Our job as seasoned adults who have been there and done that is to recognize and show them their victories and their vulnerabilities, and to help them understand that their actions have consequences to themselves and others whom they know, and dont.
Only then can they climb back from this mistake, and back up on that chair.
Stephane Rebeck is a resident of Barnegat Light and St. Louis, Mo.She is a USLA surf rescue training officer and the chief of BYLG Sport Water Rescue.In 2018, she was named the National Drowning Prevention Alliance Lifesaver of the Year.
Excerpt from:
How We Help Our Lifeguards Do Better on and Off the Job - The SandPaper