Life Guard

Lifeguards perform a vital service to their communities as well as swimmers and water sport enthusiasts everywhere. As their name suggests, they quite literally guard the lives of the people enjoying their pools, beaches, and water parks.

Becoming a lifeguard is not overly complicated, but it is not necessarily easy either. Lifeguards must obtain certification from a recognized organization such as the American Red Cross, YMCA, or other qualified training program. Qualifications are usually different for pool or water park lifeguards than for lifeguards for open water such as bays, harbors, or oceans. Additionally, some jurisdictions such as San Diego and Los Angeles Counties in California have their own training academies.

Aside from the obvious duty of saving distressed or drowning swimmers, lifeguards have many other important duties to perform. In fact, a large part of a lifeguard's job is to identify and prevent potential crises before they occur. In a perfect world, a lifeguard would never need to save anyone because they would be able to spot all potential issues and counsel people to safety before an incident occurs. Lifeguards are specifically trained to watch for people showing early signs of distress such as someone struggling with a current. They are also trained to detect those showing signs of physical discomfort such as someone with a cramp or someone having heart or breathing problems.

Sometimes people (especially children) think lifeguards are being spoiled sports when they are not allowed to do as they please in the water. In actuality, horseplay can often lead to potentially dangerous situations. A good lifeguard will be proactive in advising people to tone down their antics before something bad happens.

Of course, lifeguards can't anticipate or circumvent every potential danger and so are sometimes called on to perform water rescues. Fortunately, they are trained to offer first aid for many medical emergencies.

Many lifeguards (especially pool lifeguards) are also called upon to teach water safety and provide swimming lessons.

First and foremost, lifeguards must be strong swimmers. There is generally no educational requirement to be a lifeguard and, in some states, people can become a certified lifeguard at the age of fifteen. Additionally, some states have junior lifeguard programs for children as young as eleven. Lifeguards must be in excellent physical and mental condition as they may be called upon to physically rescue people of all sizes and must also maintain their concentration while monitoring activity in their assigned area.

In addition to their rescue skills, lifeguards must be trained in first aid, CPR, and rescue breathing. Additionally, many lifeguards are trained to use an oxygen resuscitator and an Automatic External Defibrillator (AED).

It is helpful for lifeguards to have good social skills as they are often called upon to interact with those they are assigned to protect. In some smaller municipalities, lifeguards are also called upon to function as EMT's and respond to other types of emergencies such as mountain rescues. This, of course, requires significant additional training.

According to payscale.com, the median salary for a full-time lifeguard is $40,000 per year. However, the salary increases to $77,000 for lifeguards with 20 or more years of experience. Aside from experience level, there are other factors that can affect a lifeguard's salary such as level of training, type of employer (private pool, state or local government, etc.) and the geographic location where the lifeguard works.

In many parts of the country, lifeguarding is a seasonal position. Many lifeguards start out as teenagers working part-time or in summer jobs. In fact, many states and municipalities (especially in the north) only staff public beaches and outdoor pools with lifeguards between Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends as summertime is peak season for beach goers. Indoor pools and warm weather areas like southern California employ lifeguards year round.

B. Chris Brewster is the editor or co-editor of three different books on water lifesaving techniques and drowning prevention. Additionally, he is currently the president of the United States Lifesaving Association. Another influential lifeguard is Mike Bartlett. He is a lifeguard in Huntington Beach, California and a recipient of the California Surf Life Saving Association's Medal of Valor. This prestigious award was bestowed upon him in 2005 after rescuing three people simultaneously from drowning in a riptide. In addition to being a bona fide hero, Mike is also the editor of American Lifeguard Magazine.

The United States Lifesaving Association (USLA) is a "non-profit professional association of beach lifeguards and open water rescuers. " They "work to reduce the incidence of death and injury in the aquatic environment through public education, national lifeguard standards, training programs, promotion of high levels of lifeguard readiness, and other means."

In addition to the USLA, there are many local and regional organizations for lifeguards. Two of the largest and most prominent are the Los Angeles City Lifeguard Association (http://lacitylifeguards.pyroinnovations.com/) and the Huntington State Beach Lifeguard Association (http://www.statelifeguards.com/).

The two top cities for lifeguard jobs are Los Angeles and San Diego. These are cities that have open beaches all year long. Other large cities such as New York, Chicago, and Baltimore offer good opportunities for lifeguards as well. A region that has many seasonal job opportunities is Long Island, New York. Long Island has many public pools and beaches that are open during the summer. In general, coastal areas have more jobs available for lifeguards as they generally have more beaches. Public pools, however, can be found throughout the United States and, with the increasing popularity of water parks, lifeguard positions can be found in most metropolitan areas.