BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — The City of Buffalo and the Police Athletic League of Buffalo (PAL) are working to head off a potential shortage of city lifeguards that forced all nine outdoor city pools to remain closed last summer.
“30 did show up. We have about 15 actually taking the class,” remarked Shawn Edinger, Red Cross Certification Instructor for PAL.
The city is being proactive with training and recruitment in the winter months in hopes of securing the needed staff.
“Being a lifeguard is probably the greatest job a student— high school and college can have,” described Edinger.
A week-long lifeguard training sessionis underway at Cazenovia Pool on Abbott Road in south Buffalo for those 16 to 21 years old.
But then the first day of recruitment, 30 teens showed up to see if they are eligible to be city lifeguards.
“They want to be here because they know that this skill they are learning — they can save lives and they want to be here for that,” commented Edinger.
To apply, they must know how to swim and those who live in the city and attend Buffalo Schools will be given hiring preference, but they must complete a 32-hour course.
Instructor Edinger tells me of the 30 who arrived Monday, 15-were qualified for the certification to begin.
But the rest were not turned away. Instead, they were taken directly into the pool to improve their skills.
“Arms out as high as you can get them. Ready?,” director Syble Smith, swim instructor, PAL.
Smith is also a swim instructor making sure these students can come back next month to apply again for certification.
“As you can see, we've already had a couple that got over that little hump. You know if you haven't been in the water in a while, it takes a little bit to get used to going into the water, putting your face in the water, doing bubbles in air — bring your arms over the water,” Smith reflected. “I think the more you're in the water, the more confident you are. The more that someone is saying 'come on, you can do it — one more stroke’ — the more confident you feel that they feel you can do it.”
The swim instruction was already paying off for two of the swimmers whose skills improved since they arrived in the pool water Monday.
“And they're moving on with the harder portion of it, so every day this week we are going to be having kids that are going to be working in the water with us to work on getting their skills back to that level where they need to do lifeguarding,” Smith replied.
“They have to be able to swim 300 yards. They have to be to tread water for two minutes and they have to be able to get a brick in nine feet of water, pull it up, backstroke to the deck, put the brick on top of the deck, and then get out of the pool without the assist of a ladder,” explained Edinger
The city is also waiving the certification fee for city residents. If they are hired, the lifeguards will earn $20 an hour.
“It's cool to be a lifeguard — look at the movies- -when you see kids in the lifeguard chair — don't they look cool up there?” Smith declared.
“It's paying good money this time around — sounds good to me as a high school student or even a college student,” Edinger noted.
Five more days of these sessions to train and certify city lifeguards will be again in March at the Cazenovia Pool.
The March sessions are as follows:
- Saturdays & Sundays; 3/4, 3/5, 3/11, 3/12, and 3/18
- 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Cazenovia Pool.
You can register at the PAL's website for the training and certification process.
Michael DeGeorge, spokesman for the City of Buffalo, tells 7 News the city would need to hire approximately 80 lifeguards for all city pools to reopen for the summer season.
