Equipment that may be used
AED – Automatic External Defibrillator- used for when a person goes into cardiac arrest.
Back Board – For a Spinal Injury, the victim is strapped to the board and moved out of the pool or to another location.
Chair – sat on by the lifeguards.
First Aid Kits – obviously used for first aid.
Gloves – used to protect from blood contact.
Mask – Breathing Barrier, used for CPR to put over the mask (sorry, no more mouth to mouth people).
Megaphone – used to amplify the voice to get children’s attention.
Oxygen – tank of oxygen administered to those who are light headed or having trouble breathing.
Ring Buoy – never used by a lifeguard, but can be thrown out to help a person.
Shepherd’s Crook – long pole with a hook attached on the end (not really used).
Skimmer – long pole with a net attached used to skim things out of the water.
Tube – Rescue Tube, used by all lifeguards, generally it is red and strapped around the chest and then held by the hands.
Whistle – Obviously to blow at children to get their attention.
Rescues that are commonly made
Active Drowning – a person who still is breathing, but is struggling to keep their head above water, generally this person is in a vertical position and cannot call out for help. The rescue is made by the lifeguard just going out and getting the person from behind.
Passive Drowning – a person that has completely stopped breathing, and is unconscious, most likely face down in the water. The lifeguard rolls the victim on their back and onto their tube. Once to the wall, the lifeguard uses a backboard to get the victim out with some help from another guard.
Submerged – a person who has now drifted down to the bottom of the pool, not breathing and unconscious. The lifeguard goes down to get the victim and pulls them up to the surface laying them across their tube. The removal is the same as a passive.
Spinal – this is a person with a head, neck or back injury. They have hurt themselves somehow in the process of playing, either by slipping on the deck, or diving in where it is too shallow and hitting their head. You have to strap them to a back board while still in the water using a very specific procedure that is long and complicated, but doing it very quickly.
Other commonly used terms
CPR – Cardiopulmonary resuscitation – if the heart is stopped beating, CPR is performed until EMS arrives.
Primary rescuer – first lifeguard to the scene
Rescue breathing – if the heart is still breathing, but no breathing is happening, you just give breathing.
Rotation – guards rotate every 15-30 minutes to give themselves a break and to keep moving.
Secondary rescuer – helper
Victim – the person who is hurt or drowning
