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Lifeguards update skills with in-service


A group of lifeguards sat in conference beside the Tom and Kathleen Elam Center Pool, at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 4. The subject: saving lives.

The lifeguards who work at the Elam Center pool are required to do regular in-service to keep them up to date on life saving techniques. In-service sessions usually take place once a month, and spontaneous in-service is often given at the end of work shifts.

During a regular meeting, the lifeguards review CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and rescue breathing techniques. The lifeguards were also carefully drilled on the use of AEDs (automated external defibrillator) for victims of cardiac arrest.

After this discussion period, the lifeguards ran through some real life situations. In one of these scenarios, four lifeguards were asked to go outside. The rest of the lifeguards were instructed to swim in certain areas of the pool. One of them was to have a “heart attack” while swimming laps. When the first four lifeguards came back into the natatorium, they were told to assume their stations in the chairs around the pool.

Music was playing, and the scenario was pretty close to a normal day at the pool. About three minutes into the situation, one of the lap swimmers went passive in the water and began to sink to the bottom. The lifeguard nearest the endangered swimmer recognized the situation in seven seconds. The victim was out of the water in one minute and thirty seconds.

Taking a victim out of the pool is a delicate operation. The lifeguard that jumped into the pool to save the drowning person must support the victim while other lifeguards assist. A backboard is slipped into the water and a second lifeguard rolls the victim onto it. With the help of a third lifeguard, the victim is secured to the backboard and pulled out of the water without disturbing his or her neck or spine.

An assessment of the victim is then done. Is the victim responsive? If not, is he or she breathing? Does the person have a pulse? In these real-life situations, the lifeguards assumed a worst-case scenario. The victim was in big trouble with no pulse or signs of breathing. CPR and rescue breathing were begun on a mannequin positioned as if it had just been pulled from the water. A mannequin must be used because CPR should never be performed on someone who does not need it.

After the scenario was finished, the group came back together to discuss how well the lifeguards being tested had done.

Suggestions were given by the other lifeguards to enhance performance and reaction time. When this discussion was completed, the lifeguards ran the scenario again. Once everything went smoothly, the group began other types of real life scenarios.

Gina Warren, the director of campus recreation, makes sure that lifeguards follow safety procedures and take precautionary measures while working. All of the lifeguards are certified in CPR and rescue breathing, and those certifications are kept up to date.