Most of the time, lifeguards working at Park District of Oak Park’s Rehm and Ridgeland Common pools simply sit and watch. But if something does happen, they are more than ready to spring into action.
Every lifeguard gets four hours of training a month, and they train for 30 minutes after each shift. In addition, they are regularly drilled during their shifts to make sure they pay attention and can put what they were taught into practice.
All of that effort paid off during a recent audit, where lifeguards at Rehm Pool proved that they could take care of an injured swimmer faster than the training program’s standards.
The park district operates two pools, the Rehm Pool at 515 Garfield St. and Ridgeland Common Pool at 415 Lake St. All lifeguards that work there are licensed by Orlando, Florida-based Ellis & Associates Inc., which also does the audits.
Kayla Fauria, the park district’s aquatic and rink Manager, explained that she and other staff swimming instructors do the actual training.
“To become a lifeguard, candidates have to be able to swim 100 yards with ease, retrieve a brick from 12 feet of water and tread water for one minute with no hands,” Fauria said. “After they pass that test, they have to attend a 28-hour weekend [training session] where they learn all the skills for lifeguarding, including CPR and first aid.”
After taking that course and passing a written and physical tests, the newly minted lifeguards get some more training at the pools.
“[They] train 12 hours in our actual facilities, and then have to retrieve a brick from 16 feet of water at Rehm, to prepare to be in the stand,” Fauria said.
And the training doesn’t stop there. After every shift, they have to train for 30 minutes. They also have to attend four hours of training outside the regular work hours.
To further reinforce what they’ve been taught, they get regularly drilled. That includes mannequin drops, where lifeguards have to get mannequins out of the pool, and live action drills – which, Fauria explained, “is a fancy term for someone pretending to be in distress.”
The staff regularly observes guards’ “scanning techniques” to see how well they pay attention. And, according to the park district, “a few times a month, the lifeguards are tested with a fake spinal injury or fake unconscious guest to allow them to practice the full scenario.”
All this training paid off during the most recent Ellis & Associates audit – the second of the three unannounced audits it will be doing this year – when all 12 Rehm lifeguards performed above expectations.
“Lifeguards are tested in responding to an active guest-in-distress, first aid, in-water unconscious guest and spinal management,” park district spokeswoman Diane Stanke said in a press release. “While the Park District of Oak Park lifeguards received perfect scores in all of their simulated emergencies, it was their spinal management simulation that stood out the most to their auditor.”
During that test, the “victim” pretended to suffer a spinal cord injury after going off the diving board. Given the delicacy of the injury and the time sensitivity, lifeguards have to make sure to not only get the swimmer out of the water as quickly as possible, but to make sure the victim is properly strapped to the board to avoid making the injury worse.
Ellis & Associates sets the standard at three minutes. The Rehm Pool lifeguards got the job done in under two — 1 minute and 30 seconds to be exact.
On July 24, the two aquatic facility coordinators and all lifeguards involved received Ellis & Associates’ Outstanding Responder Award. Stanke explained that it’s something that’s only given to a few lifeguards each summer. And all 12 of the park district’s lifeguards received scores of Exceeding Overall.
“The auditor was impressed at how well the lifeguards worked as a team and communicated with each other, let along the time it took them to respond,” Stanke said.
