Lifeguarding Sources

http://search.proquest.com/docview/215770028?pq-origsite=summon

Tyson, Kim. "Developments and Future Trends In Lifeguarding."Journal of Physical Education,      

     Recreation & Dance. 61.5 (1990): 40. Web.

http://search.proquest.com/docview/215760016?pq-origsite=summon

"New requirements for lifeguards." Journal of Physical Education,Recreation & Dance. 74.5       (2003): 54. Web.

http://search.proquest.com/docview/763259096/abstract?accountid=12073

Schwebel, David C Jones, Heather N; Holder, Erika; Marciani, Francesca. "Lifeguards: A Forgotten         Aspect of Drowning Prevention."Journal of Injury and Violence Research 2.1 (2010): 1-3. Web.

We guard on. -Research paper questions

I have decided to do my research paper about my dream job of becoming a permanent lifeguard.  Although I am going to school for air traffic controlling, my heart will always reside besides the pool. After being taught at the age of 4 to swim by lifeguards and living the 'summoned life', I feel as if I have finally found my out what I was meant to do in this world but am grief stricken that I cannot fulfill my job due to it being a seasonal job and age being a factor, I cannot rescue lives forever :(. In order to hopefully fulfill my craving of guarding during the off season, I've decided to go even further in depth and finally figure out more about life guarding.  As a result, here are some questions I have came up with a few questions to help further the knowledge of not only myself, but also to the guards who may be reading and also have the same questions about guarding. Hopefully, this may also encourage my non-lifeguard readers to become lifeguards, or at least take CPR/AR/AED courses at their local Red Cross center.

• What are some other reasons lifeguards chose being a lifeguard?
• What are other types of certifications in the life saving world can one get?
• Benefits of having a CPR/AR/AED certification. 
• How being a lifeguard as a teen has affected the older generation.
• Where are some of the older generation lifeguards at in life now?
• Lifeguard related jobs that one can pursue for a full time job.
• The salaries of lifeguards at other facilities.
• How many lives have been saved from lifeguards a year at a pool or water park.
• How many lives have been saved from off duty lifeguards, or citizens with CPR/AR/AED training?

-Havard Gazette- What could possibly go wrong?

In the article by Alvin Powell, Powell interviews food specialist and Harvard Graduate, Walter Willet. Powell begins asking the interview by asking about Willet's family tree beginning with his grand father. Powell then asks about Willet's fathers background in hopes to see or figure out a pattern about how Willet got into being a food specialist. 
Walter's family coming from a farm, Walter was always into diet and health. He got his degree in Physics and from their his uncle got Walter even more interested in Physics. What Walter soon realized though was that he was more interested in being outside and less indoor, lab-type projects and experiments. So to solve his problem, Walter decided to have the best of both worlds and decided to go into food physics and nutrition.
From there on out, he has worked with others in conducting heath studies and came back with many interesting results. With his results, he publishes, he has managed to educate the public in one of his more famous studies about how a moderate diet could drop many heath concerns such as a heart and cardiovascular disease by nearly 90% and cancers by over 50%!
After conducting many other studies, Walter ended up going back to Harvard and becoming a professor.

The Summoned Life summary.

In the Summoned self by David Brooks, Brooks tells the readers about two separate ways to approach life.
The first way to approach life, is what he calls the Well-Planned life. In the well-planned life, one doe exactly as said. You would plan out your life an project or paper and as you go throughout life, you would find your "overall purpose" of your life. (Brooks) By the time your life is over, you can look back and see that your life turned out just as you planned it out to be due to how you organized it to be.
The second way of life is called the summoned life. In the summoned life, instead of planning out ones life, you would just go about your life, taking on the world, day by day waiting to see what life holds for you next. Brooks states that when living the summoned life you live in "an unknown landscape [yet], to be explored" (Brooks). Unlike the Well-Planned life, you do not know the meaning of life because you have not lived through it all to see it. Instead of planning your life the way you want to like one would in the well-planned life, one would now try to figure out his overall purpose and what his destiny is. There is no right or wrong answer in which life to live, but rather ones own opinion on how he wishes to see life; as both methods are "useful for a person trying to live a well-considered life" (Brooks).

21 month old infant taught to swim.

Many people are just scared to teach their children to swim because they are "too young".  I just wanted to share a cute video to show you that if a 21 month old infant is taught to swim, you're 3,4, and 5 year old children are also capable of doing it. I was taught when I was 4, and it has only helped me. It is an skill worth investing into your child that is never forgotten!

The STAAR Method.

What many people do not realize is that drowning is a very quick process. In the last video shown, (Which can also be seen here), the girl flips out of her tube and begins drowning at :30. By the time the lifeguard got to her, fifteen seconds had gone by. What you didn't probably know is that it only takes 30 seconds for one to go from a active victim (someone who is flailing and drowning) to an unconscious victim, at the bottom of the pool.(Wilson, "Water saftey expert: 'drowning doesn't just happen'") The first step to prevent deaths by drowning in general is by using the STAAR method and saving life's before they even go under and need to be given CPR.  The star method is quite simple. It goes as followed.

S- Scan - (scan the pool, within 20 seconds, your head should go from your left shoulder, to your right shoulder, scanning the top, middle, and bottom of the pool for struggling, or unconscious swimmers.)

T- Target - see the man "drowning"?

A- Assess - Assess the situation, is the man underwater moving his arms around or is he stiff?
 Many ask about how lifeguards know the difference between who is play drowning and really drowning. Lifeguards tend to look for facial expressions, such as what my guarding community calls the "OH SHIT" eyes. "OH SHIT" eyes are those who look as if they had just seen a ghost, they're eyes are open extremely wide, with their mouth slightly open sometimes as if they want to speak but can't get the words to come out.

A-Alert - ALWAYS SAY SOMETHING BEFORE JUMPING IN. Lifeguards have whistle in order to notify other lifeguards that they are going in and need to have their zones covered, notify their managers in order for them to call 911 ( depending on the whistle count and/or length being blown) and also notify patrons for them to move out of the way for when you are jumping/ swimming towards the victim. If at a pool party with no lifeguard, atleast scream to get others attention, they can then call 911 if necessary or come help also.

R-Rescue - Finally, rescue the victim, check to make sure they are okay if conscious, most likely they will still be in shock so calm them down by ensuring them that you are a here to help! Get them thinking again by asking them their name and age while swimming to the nearest edge. ( Gathering information can also help the paramedics by giving them a background of the situation)

What does drowning look like?

Whenever we think of someone drowning, we all think of the typical girl, screaming "help! I can't swim!" bobbing up and down, but what many do not realize is that drowning is the complete opposite. When drowning, many (both children and adults), go into a panic mode. During the panic mode, ones only goal is to stay above the water, no matter the cost. When drowning, many do not think about calling for help; the only goal is to gasp for air. I highly encourage my readers to watch the video below to see a real pool save to get an idea what a true drowning victim looks like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0KTqPloUiU

Did you see the girl flip out of her tube? Did you notice how she did not scream, but instead began flailing, trying to gasp for air? This, is what a true drowning looks like.