Beach lore has it that lifeguards are glamorous types who, when not working on their tans, save lives.
But more often than not, a lifeguard is simply somebody`s kid working a summer job and constantly afraid that, any minute, somebody might drown.
”A lot of people have misconceptions about lifeguarding. You know, big macho (men), girls, all that stuff,” said Marek Gnyp, 21, a third-year lifeguard at Holstein Park pool on Chicago`s North Side. ”That`s not it. When there are a lot of people in the pool, you can get nervous. It gets really nerve-racking because you know you are responsible for these people.”
Lifeguards in the Chicago area were reminded of how nerve-racking their jobs can be when 10-year-old Jackie Rice drowned Aug. 9 at Green Lake Pool, a Cook County Forest Preserve swimming area near Calumet City, and 18-year-old Deon Brooks drowned a week later at Oak Street Beach in Chicago.
Police said Brooks was with some friends when he decided to dive into the lake. When he didn`t surface 10 minutes later, a friend ran along the beach to find a lifeguard.
Despite state legislation that says children`s parents and individuals are ultimately responsible for their safety at public swimming areas, most lifeguards say they feel the weight of keeping swimmers safe.
”If there is a rescue and you do something wrong, not according to the procedures, then you could be responsible. That is always in my mind,” Gnyp said.
Teens who are packing groceries, hauling boxes or filling drink cups as summer jobs may have time to daydream. Lifeguards don`t.
”In an office, if you screw up, that could mean someone will lose some money. If you screw up here, that could be someone`s life,” said Mel Jiganti, 22, a lifeguard for six years at North Avenue Beach.
Drownings are relatively rare in supervised swimming areas. Cook County Forest Preserve officials say there have been no other drownings under lifeguard supervision in the Forest Preserve`s three pools in the last two years.
Hollis Friedman, spokeswoman for the Forest Preserve, said her department has a record of only one other drowning in the Green Lake Pool. In 1990, a 4- year-old girl entered the pool area during the fall off-season and drowned.
The Chicago Park District has not had a drowning under lifeguard supervision at one of the district`s 88 pools since 1989.
Joe Pecoraro, the Park District`s general supervisor of beaches and pools, said guards constantly fight losing their concentration. Those in rowboats find the constant motion a stimulus. ”But in the perches it`s a little harder,” Jiganti said. ”You train yourself to keep your eyes moving. You start to know when the guard next to you is spaced out.”
”All it takes is one little mistake,” said Missy Gerstetter, a 15-year- old lifeguard at Bloom Township Akyline Pool in Glenwood. ”In one second, something can happen.”
Holstein guard Laticia Alvarado, 20, said the job is ”never easier.”
To regain their focus, lifeguards turn to exercise. Guards are encouraged to work out on their breaks.
”Exercise does wonders for stress and pressure,” Jiganti said. ”I swim, I run, I lift weights. We also play a lot of sand football.”
Guards also worry about kids who are poor swimmers and those without adult supervision. Both are becoming common at swimming areas, they say.
”A lot of parents bring their kids in here, drop them off, go to work and then pick them up,” Gynp said. ”The kids are left alone. I feel sometimes like a baby-sitter.”
”We get that all the time,” Alvarado said. ” `Oh, will you watch my child for me?` We`re not here to baby-sit. We are here to make sure that they aren`t in any harmful situations.”
On occasion, parents create the difficulties, guards say.
”Sometimes it`s more of a problem when the parents are here,” said Theresa Gormley, a 21-year-old lifeguard at Dolphin Lake Park in Homewood, where recently 119 people were registered, but only 37 were over age 18. ”A lot of the parents don`t want to discipline their kids. They will let their kids do anything.”
Mary Rice of Harvey thought she had provided more than adequate parental supervision when she accompanied her daughter Jackie to the Green Lake Pool earlier this month and, she said, made sure several adults chaperoned the girl in the water.
But minutes after arriving at the lagoon-style swimming area, Rice reported her daughter missing. An hour later, her daughter`s body was found floating on the deep end.
Forest Preserve police investigated the case and found no evidence of criminal negligence by lifeguards. However, Rice claims that lifeguards ignored her pleas for help and showed little concern for her missing child.
”My question is, are they equipped to be lifeguards?” Rice asked.
That`s a question most parents ask, and though lifeguards work to ensure swimmers` safety, courts have ruled that parents are ultimately responsible for protecting their children at swimming areas.
Under the 1989 Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act, lifeguards, like other government employees, are ”not liable for an injury caused by a failure to supervise an activity on or the use of any public property.”
Still, Pecoraro said he holds his staff responsible for all guests.
”Pools in the afternoon are filled with kids by themselves,” Pecoraro said. ”You expect that. That`s why you train your lifeguards to be on their toes.”
Green Lake lifeguards range in age from 16 to 24 and have from one to eight years of experience. As with many swimming pool districts in the Chicago area, Green Lake lifeguards are required to show proof of passing a 27-hour course on lifesaving and an eight-hour course on first aid and CPR given by the Red Cross.
A few districts provide additional training. Pecoraro`s district, for instance, requires the Red Cross courses, a battery of swimming tests and six days of training-”rookie camp”-that involves special instruction in various types of lifesaving and how to guard different types of swimming locations.
In addition to formal training, many lifeguards say they learn tricks from watching people on the job.
Jenny Feinstein, 22, a third-year lifeguard at the pool at Dolphin Lake, said she has developed a system for watching over swimmers. ”You basically keep scanning over them,” Feinstein said. ”You get to know the kids and you know who can swim.”
Though they are in the minority, some lifeguards have had to help save a swimmer and a few have had to deal with fatalities.
Derek Chodorowski, an 18-year-old lifeguard at the Dolphin Lake pool, saved a young swimmer at the same moment that another youth drowned.
Chodorowski was working at the lake portion of the Dolphin swimming area when he noticed three boys about 12 years old on the lake standing up and rocking in their boat.
”I told them, `Don`t stand up and don`t rock the boat,` ” Chodorowski recalled.
The boys ignored the warning and fell into the water. Chodorowski dove in and was able to save one. Another pulled himself to safety. The third went under.
Chodorowski said he does not feel guilt in the incident because the boys could not swim and he had warned them of danger. Still, the intensity of the moment and the fact that one boy never was saved is something he has not forgotten.
”I couldn`t sleep that same night,” Chodorowski said. ”It`s something that everyone who was here will remember.”
