On duty!
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Reflection
I think that this project has taught me a lot. Besides learning how to be a lifeguard, I have learned how to learn from my mistakes. I had a couple of rough patches over the course of this project; having to miss a class, failing a skills test, etc., But I learned how to deal with these challenges and that has made me a better person. I now have a life long skill that I can use to get a job in the future and I know how to work better with others. I also have a better understanding of the health and social AoI and the role of a lifeguard in their community. If I were to do this project again, I would register to take the class earlier and make sure that my schedule was free of any conflicts. I would also study harder for the tests and apply for a life guarding job much earlier. Overall, I think this was a good project for me and I'm proud of how it turned out.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Class 9
5/18/12
Today was the big day. The last day of lifeguard class. The day we'd find out if we really had what it takes to be a certified lifeguard. I didn't plan to be nervous at all today because I was supposed to finish all my tests yesterday and relax and watch other people take their tests today, but because I slipped up yesterday, I was first up on deck for today. And I won't lie, I was nervous. I was scared out of my mind. If I messed up this time then that was it. Two-hundred dollars down the drain. So when I walked into the pool, I was pretty much ready to get that class over with.
Much to my dismay, we didn't launch directly into the tests, but had a final lesson about pool chemicals. This gave me a little bit of time to relax and focus on something else, which was probably a good thing. We learned how to test the chlorine level of pool and we toured the filter room. Pretty basic things, but also pretty important things for the daily running of a pool. After that, we got suited up to finish the rest of the water tests.
Like I said before, I was first up to finish my deep water rescue, so I climbed up the huge chair and put my buoy on. I was a little bit worried because the chair was so tall that jumping seemed hazardous, but I figured once adrenaline kicked in that it wouldn't be a problem. We started the scenario and I immediately began to scan the water. I spotted the "victim", jumped in, and finished the rescue smoothly. I did it! I passed! It seemed like the key thing was to not think so hard, to just relax and let my instincts take over. Needless to say, the rest of class was a breeze after that. I spent the rest of the time hanging out with some of the other kids in the class that I probably wouldn't see after the class was over.
I was so happy to get home and tell my mom that I had passed and to go to school the next day and tell my teacher that Imani and I had finished the hardest parts of our personal projects.
Today was the big day. The last day of lifeguard class. The day we'd find out if we really had what it takes to be a certified lifeguard. I didn't plan to be nervous at all today because I was supposed to finish all my tests yesterday and relax and watch other people take their tests today, but because I slipped up yesterday, I was first up on deck for today. And I won't lie, I was nervous. I was scared out of my mind. If I messed up this time then that was it. Two-hundred dollars down the drain. So when I walked into the pool, I was pretty much ready to get that class over with.
Much to my dismay, we didn't launch directly into the tests, but had a final lesson about pool chemicals. This gave me a little bit of time to relax and focus on something else, which was probably a good thing. We learned how to test the chlorine level of pool and we toured the filter room. Pretty basic things, but also pretty important things for the daily running of a pool. After that, we got suited up to finish the rest of the water tests.
Like I said before, I was first up to finish my deep water rescue, so I climbed up the huge chair and put my buoy on. I was a little bit worried because the chair was so tall that jumping seemed hazardous, but I figured once adrenaline kicked in that it wouldn't be a problem. We started the scenario and I immediately began to scan the water. I spotted the "victim", jumped in, and finished the rescue smoothly. I did it! I passed! It seemed like the key thing was to not think so hard, to just relax and let my instincts take over. Needless to say, the rest of class was a breeze after that. I spent the rest of the time hanging out with some of the other kids in the class that I probably wouldn't see after the class was over.
I was so happy to get home and tell my mom that I had passed and to go to school the next day and tell my teacher that Imani and I had finished the hardest parts of our personal projects.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Class 8
5/17/12
We began today's class with our final test. It was actually easier than the first test and I was really happy that I only missed three questions this time around. We talked about the answers for a little while and then suited up to begin the first round of water skill tests! I'm the kind of person that gets really anxious about finals and stuff like that so I usually like to go close to the beginning so that I'm not just stressing the whole time. When they asked for volunteers, my hand shot up and I was put in the group that would finish all four tests today. Thankfully, I didn't have to be the very first person to go and I got to watch and see what we would have to do before I was thrown to the wolves.
The first round of tests actually went pretty well; Someone manned the deep end, another person took the diving boards and still another person watched the shallow end. It was fairly obvious how each victim was supposed to "drown" and everything went smoothly. I even had fun pretending to flirt with one of the lifeguards to distract them.
But when my turn came, the butterflies in my stomach went a little crazy. The first task I had was to sit by the high dive/where the deep end sloped up into the shallow end. I slid my buoy over my neck and took the whistle into my hand, giving it a little swing for luck. I started to relax when the scenario began, and scanned the pool for possible victims. After a while, I noticed a girl named Bridie wave her arms and sink to the bottom. I yelled EAP hoarsely and gave the whistle a sharp blow before striding into the pool to the rescue. I did exactly what I was supposed to and executed the rescue flawlessly. I was feeling really proud of myself when I saw the instructor's unusually grim face. The grin slid off my face as I exited the pool, Bridie in tow. I had gone over the time limit, Sam informed me. I did everything right, just the victim would have been dead in real life because I didn't notice her in time. I felt horrible, but they reassured me that I still had a second chance and promptly pushed me over to the CPR section, where I was to begin the next test. I felt like I needed a moment to just process and breathe, but I guess I needed to get the CPR over with anyways.
CPR has come easy to me since the first class and I performed that section of the test on autopilot and passed with flying colors. I must have still looked a little numb afterwards because Imani came over and gave me a hug and told me that I would nail it next time. Then I got some time to rest and play the victim for other people to rescue. Shortly after, I successfully completed and passed my active victim drowning and shallow water spinal tests. Much to my dismay, we ran out of time for me to run the deep water rescue again, but I was promised first shot at it the next class. 3 out of 4 tests completed, I was feeling pretty good, but not as good as I was sure I would feel the next day when I passed all of the tests and became an official lifeguard for real.
We began today's class with our final test. It was actually easier than the first test and I was really happy that I only missed three questions this time around. We talked about the answers for a little while and then suited up to begin the first round of water skill tests! I'm the kind of person that gets really anxious about finals and stuff like that so I usually like to go close to the beginning so that I'm not just stressing the whole time. When they asked for volunteers, my hand shot up and I was put in the group that would finish all four tests today. Thankfully, I didn't have to be the very first person to go and I got to watch and see what we would have to do before I was thrown to the wolves.
The first round of tests actually went pretty well; Someone manned the deep end, another person took the diving boards and still another person watched the shallow end. It was fairly obvious how each victim was supposed to "drown" and everything went smoothly. I even had fun pretending to flirt with one of the lifeguards to distract them.
But when my turn came, the butterflies in my stomach went a little crazy. The first task I had was to sit by the high dive/where the deep end sloped up into the shallow end. I slid my buoy over my neck and took the whistle into my hand, giving it a little swing for luck. I started to relax when the scenario began, and scanned the pool for possible victims. After a while, I noticed a girl named Bridie wave her arms and sink to the bottom. I yelled EAP hoarsely and gave the whistle a sharp blow before striding into the pool to the rescue. I did exactly what I was supposed to and executed the rescue flawlessly. I was feeling really proud of myself when I saw the instructor's unusually grim face. The grin slid off my face as I exited the pool, Bridie in tow. I had gone over the time limit, Sam informed me. I did everything right, just the victim would have been dead in real life because I didn't notice her in time. I felt horrible, but they reassured me that I still had a second chance and promptly pushed me over to the CPR section, where I was to begin the next test. I felt like I needed a moment to just process and breathe, but I guess I needed to get the CPR over with anyways.
CPR has come easy to me since the first class and I performed that section of the test on autopilot and passed with flying colors. I must have still looked a little numb afterwards because Imani came over and gave me a hug and told me that I would nail it next time. Then I got some time to rest and play the victim for other people to rescue. Shortly after, I successfully completed and passed my active victim drowning and shallow water spinal tests. Much to my dismay, we ran out of time for me to run the deep water rescue again, but I was promised first shot at it the next class. 3 out of 4 tests completed, I was feeling pretty good, but not as good as I was sure I would feel the next day when I passed all of the tests and became an official lifeguard for real.
Class 7
5/14/12
Today was a pretty uneventful class. We had a big review day and worked on all of our water skills and studied for our final written exam. We filled out a new study guide and the instructors answered any questions we had about the course. I wasn't really that nervous about the written test as I was about the water skills test. I knew the shallow water spinal, CPR and active drowning rescues would be easy, but I was a little nervous about the deep water unconscious rescue. That was the rescue that I had missed when I had to miss class for my band concert. Sam went over it with me a bunch of times, but I still felt like that was my weakest skill.
That means that when we had free time to work on any water skill we wanted, I drilled the deep water rescue over and over again, and I was pretty sure that I had finally got it. The rest of the class I worked on all of my other water skills and CPR. And when I was done with that, I played around with Imani :) Finally, our instructors led a few scenarios for us to take turns practicing to guard. It was almost more fun to play the victims though. Some of the more memorable scenarios involved, pretending to be intoxicated at a rave pool party, pretending to be hyper summer camp kids and pretending to be crazy senior citizens in the water aerobics class. We all had fun and were prepared the start the final tests the next day.
Class 6
5/11/12
Today we had our first written test. We literally walked into the class and started the test. I thought it was pretty easy but there were definitely some questions that could go either way. Overall I was pretty sure that I had at least passed.
After a grueling wait, we finally got our tests back and I found out that I had missed 6 questions. I was happy that I had passed the test but I was also kind of disappointed that I didn't do better. The class is pass fail, so grades don't really matter but I'm kind of a perfectionist and I like to do really well on tests.
Anyways, after finishing our tests we started learning about spinals. Spinal injuries are some of the most dangerous injuries that lifeguards have to deal with. If someone injures their neck/spine it is very important not to move them to prevent paralysis. This makes it difficult to remove a suspected spinal victim from the pool.
Did you know that every year there are approximately 12,000 spinal injuries reported in the United States? 8% of those injures occur from recreational activities like diving into the pool. Spinal injuries are most common in the shallow end of the pool or when someone strikes an object or another person when diving into the pool. Head, neck or back injuries are also common among kids running around the outside of the pool, that slide on the slick surface. Some symptoms of a spinal injury are: heavy external bleeding from the head, neck or back, seizures, blood in the ears or nose, changes in level of consciousness (or LOC), nausea or vomiting, and loss of balance.
There are several methods for rescuing a spinal victim, each depending on the situation.
1) If the victim is in the water and BREATHING, then you should work with another lifeguard to strap them to a backboard and use the head immobilizer device.
2) If the victim is in the water but NOT BREATHING, you should use a method such as the two-person-removal-from-water (one lifeguard supports the body, while the other assists with the backboard) and provide resuscitation.
3) If the victim is on land STANDING, you should secure the victim to a backboard while they remain standing and slowly lower them to the ground.
4) If the victim is on land but NOT STANDING, you should tell the victim to remain in the same position they were found in, until EMS arrives.
Today we had our first written test. We literally walked into the class and started the test. I thought it was pretty easy but there were definitely some questions that could go either way. Overall I was pretty sure that I had at least passed.
After a grueling wait, we finally got our tests back and I found out that I had missed 6 questions. I was happy that I had passed the test but I was also kind of disappointed that I didn't do better. The class is pass fail, so grades don't really matter but I'm kind of a perfectionist and I like to do really well on tests.
Anyways, after finishing our tests we started learning about spinals. Spinal injuries are some of the most dangerous injuries that lifeguards have to deal with. If someone injures their neck/spine it is very important not to move them to prevent paralysis. This makes it difficult to remove a suspected spinal victim from the pool.
Did you know that every year there are approximately 12,000 spinal injuries reported in the United States? 8% of those injures occur from recreational activities like diving into the pool. Spinal injuries are most common in the shallow end of the pool or when someone strikes an object or another person when diving into the pool. Head, neck or back injuries are also common among kids running around the outside of the pool, that slide on the slick surface. Some symptoms of a spinal injury are: heavy external bleeding from the head, neck or back, seizures, blood in the ears or nose, changes in level of consciousness (or LOC), nausea or vomiting, and loss of balance.
There are several methods for rescuing a spinal victim, each depending on the situation.
1) If the victim is in the water and BREATHING, then you should work with another lifeguard to strap them to a backboard and use the head immobilizer device.
2) If the victim is in the water but NOT BREATHING, you should use a method such as the two-person-removal-from-water (one lifeguard supports the body, while the other assists with the backboard) and provide resuscitation.
3) If the victim is on land STANDING, you should secure the victim to a backboard while they remain standing and slowly lower them to the ground.
4) If the victim is on land but NOT STANDING, you should tell the victim to remain in the same position they were found in, until EMS arrives.
head immobilizer device backboard with straps
multiple lifeguard rescue
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Class 5
5/10/12
Whoo hoo! I'm already more than half done with lifeguarding classes! It's hard to believe that I've already taken 17.5 hours of class. Now that I'm in the home stretch I have to do everything I can to make sure I pass. Speaking of passing...we have our first written test tomorrow! I'm a little bit worried because my instructor says that the Red Cross has a nasty habit of creating tests with lots of answers that sound right, but only one best answer. I really hate tests like that because simple mistakes will trip you up. The test is 40 questions long and you are allowed to miss 8 and still pass. I don't think I'll miss that many but I'm going to study hard either way.
That means that today in class we got our study guides for the test. It's the type of study guide that has the questions that you need to be able to answer, but you have to actually find the answers yourself. The main topic was CPR/AED for the professional rescuer and first aid. After we went over the stuff we needed to know for the test, we had a lesson about first aid because we hadn't discussed it yet.
First aid was actually pretty easy, but gross to learn about. Some of the pictures in the Red Cross manual, well, they just aren't pleasing to look at. We also learned how to tie a bandage around a victim arm in case of a cut or scrape and how to make a makeshift splint on a suspected broken bone. Like I said, pretty easy stuff. Here are a few things I learned about first aid.
Abrasion
Whoo hoo! I'm already more than half done with lifeguarding classes! It's hard to believe that I've already taken 17.5 hours of class. Now that I'm in the home stretch I have to do everything I can to make sure I pass. Speaking of passing...we have our first written test tomorrow! I'm a little bit worried because my instructor says that the Red Cross has a nasty habit of creating tests with lots of answers that sound right, but only one best answer. I really hate tests like that because simple mistakes will trip you up. The test is 40 questions long and you are allowed to miss 8 and still pass. I don't think I'll miss that many but I'm going to study hard either way.
That means that today in class we got our study guides for the test. It's the type of study guide that has the questions that you need to be able to answer, but you have to actually find the answers yourself. The main topic was CPR/AED for the professional rescuer and first aid. After we went over the stuff we needed to know for the test, we had a lesson about first aid because we hadn't discussed it yet.
First aid was actually pretty easy, but gross to learn about. Some of the pictures in the Red Cross manual, well, they just aren't pleasing to look at. We also learned how to tie a bandage around a victim arm in case of a cut or scrape and how to make a makeshift splint on a suspected broken bone. Like I said, pretty easy stuff. Here are a few things I learned about first aid.
- You generally shouldn't move a victim in order to treat them unless it is a life threatening situation or your location is making the problem worse.
- After doing the primary assessment of the scene you should decide whether EMS needs to be called or not.
- The secondary assessment is performed after you have performed the the primary assessment and determined that the victim is not in a life threatening situation.You should gather a brief medical history and perform a head to toe physical exam.
- the acronym SAMPLE is helpful to remember what information to gather in the secondary assessment. It stands for Signs and symptoms, Allergies, Medications, Pertinent past medical history, Last oral intake and Events leading up to the incident.
- Talk to the person calmly and explain what you plan to do to treat them. If the victim is a child, bend down on their level and use words that are easy to understand.
- Sudden Illnesses can happen to anyone, anywhere and be fatal. Some signs of a sudden illness are changes in level of consciousness (LOC), dizziness, nausea or vomiting, numbness, difficulty in speaking, loss of vision and changes in skin color.
- FAINTING- to deal with a victim who has fainted, make sure the victim is on a flat surface and loosen any tight clothing.
- SEIZURES- move nearby objects away from the victim to protect them, position the victim on their side to allow all fluids to drain. If the seizure occurs in the water, call EMS and swim out to the victim and support their head out of the water and wait until the seizure is over to move them.
- STROKE- use FAST to recognize any potential signs of a stroke. Face- weakness on one side of the face, Arm- weakness or numbness in one arm, Speech- slurred speech, Time- time to call the EMS
~Pictures to break up all the information!~
Abrasion
Laceration
And my personal favorite, the avulsion, is a bit too graphic to put on here and I can't find a good example of it anyways. (don't ever Google image avulsion, by the way)
We also learned about using gauze and pressure to treat a small to moderate cut and how to tie a makeshift sling on a suspected broken or sprained arm.
We also learned about using gauze and pressure to treat a small to moderate cut and how to tie a makeshift sling on a suspected broken or sprained arm.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Class 4
5/7/12
Today's class was very laid back and knowledge-filled. We started off with our usual "oh-so-exciting" videos, which featured the lovely AED. I don't know what it is with lifeguarding and all these abbreviations, but like CPR from the other the AED is also a breeze! (or a shock! ha ha) For those of you who didn't know prior to reading this blog, an AED system stands for Automated External Defibrillator. Much like the machines shown on medical drama TV shows, and AED contains two paddles used to shock a victim's heart back to life. Unlike TV, however, an AED can't be charged multiple times and shocked at different frequencies. It's probably the most dangerous equipment we have dealt with thus far in my class. Once you learn what it is, it's pretty easy to figure how to use it, (especially when it verbally gives you directions) but here are a few tips from me.
Today's class was very laid back and knowledge-filled. We started off with our usual "oh-so-exciting" videos, which featured the lovely AED. I don't know what it is with lifeguarding and all these abbreviations, but like CPR from the other the AED is also a breeze! (or a shock! ha ha) For those of you who didn't know prior to reading this blog, an AED system stands for Automated External Defibrillator. Much like the machines shown on medical drama TV shows, and AED contains two paddles used to shock a victim's heart back to life. Unlike TV, however, an AED can't be charged multiple times and shocked at different frequencies. It's probably the most dangerous equipment we have dealt with thus far in my class. Once you learn what it is, it's pretty easy to figure how to use it, (especially when it verbally gives you directions) but here are a few tips from me.
- Dry off the victim with a towel or other cloth. Water is a good conductor of electricity and any damp spots left on the victim's chest could potentially hurt them.
- "Size up" your victim, so to speak. If they look big enough to stick both of the pads on the chest and side, proceed with normal protocol. If it looks like you won't be able to place them in the normal spots without them touching, place one on the front of the chest and one on the back.
- Check for body jewelry/piercings. If nipple rings interfere with the placement of the pads, DO NOT TAKE THEM OUT. It seems like the most common sense thing to do, but you may further injure the victim. Just place the pads around them.
- If other lifeguards are helping you, make sure to shout "Clear!" while the AED is analyzing the heart rate and while it is delivering shock. Check to make sure no one is touching the victim during either of these times.
- After the AED has done it's job and there is a pulse, continue on to CPR or ventilation.
That's mainly what I gathered from the AED lecture and we got to watch the instructors go through all the steps with a teacher's version of the AED that doesn't deliver a real shock. Next, we moved on to reviewing our CPR skills and we got time to practice whatever skills we wanted to on the dummies. I felt pretty confident about my CPR abilities, so I volunteered to go first when we started CPR checkoffs. This wasn't the final test for CPR, just a model for us to see how the real test would go and for the instructors to make sure we had been listening.
I was happy because I got to do mine with my favorite instructor (a young lady named Raquel). I ran through everything she told me to do and did really well. CPR is one part of the final test I'm not worried about. After check offs we got more time to practice CPR and then it was time to go.
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