BUFFALO, N.Y. — The job of a lifeguard is a critical one. When every minute matters, they come to the rescue.
Shawn Edinger has been a lifeguard since he was 15 years old.
“I’ve always loved swimming and it was just basically a great job to have and I’ve always wanted to do it,” said Edinger, a lifeguard instructor at the Buffalo Police Athletic League.
Now, he’s helping the next generation learn the craft. The City of Buffalo and the Police Athletic League are offering free Red Cross lifeguard certification courses for 16 to 21-year-olds. Due to a shortage of lifeguards - the city’s outdoor public pools were closed last summer. The free training is part of the effort to change that this year.
”That’s what we’re trying to do here. Get as many of the city high school kids to come out and be a lifeguard so that they can get the city pools open,” he said.
The city and the PAL have also worked with the Buffalo Public Schools athletic department to recruit more young lifeguards.
“The swim teams this year have been a great help too,” he said. “We had the girls swim in the fall and the boys swimming in the winter so we got some kids from those two teams to come out from all the schools, so it’s been pretty good.”
Sybil Smith is a lifeguard supervisor and swim instructor for the city. She’s helping kids who might need a little extra work on their swim strokes so they can qualify for the certification course.
“They have to believe that they can do these lifeguard holds and releases and going to the bottom, getting a brick, treading water for 2 minutes, swimming 12 laps, these things are difficult if you don’t do them on a daily basis,” Smith said.
The city needs to hire about 80 lifeguards to open the pools for the summer. Pay is $20 an hour. A rewarding job with life-long skills they’re learning now to save lives.
“All my lifeguards, I tell them, as long as you’re preventative and you make sure everybody follows the rules, hopefully, you will never have to do that,” Edinger said.
More lifeguard certification sessions will be offered in March and April at Cazenovia Pool. You can register online.