Baywatch Bob

After 37 years I became a Red Cross certified life guard this weekend -yet again. Not since the glory days at the Lake Oswego District Pool or the Forest Hills Easement on the Lake (thank you Mr. Chisholm) in the early 1980’s have I been a certified lifeguard.

Courtney needed to get re-certified for her summer job so I decided to join her. Why not? Who knows being certified may come in handy in my “second half” or maybe I could be cast in the sequel of Baywatch!

Our lifeguarding class was held at the Boys & Girls Club in Dorchester. It was a very small class, our instructor Beth, Marquis a young kid from the community, Courtney and I.

The Boys & Girls Club is a nice facility that caters to over 300 inner city kids with after school programs. It was great to see how well used the club is by the kids and the local community. The pool was actually pretty nice. It is one of the nicer pools in the Boys & Girls Club system in the Boston area.

Class was held on Friday evening and then most of Saturday and Sunday.  We started off with an eligibility test and worked our way through out the course of the weekend to active and passive victim drownings, submerged victim drownings, escapes to the dreaded deep water spinal victim extrication.  Layered into the mix was CPR/AED adult/child and basic first aid. It was a bit of a review as I was just certified in CPR/First Aid a couple weeks ago. I must say I think I was a very good victim for Courtney and Marquis as they tried to save me.

Before the final exam we each tested our new found lifeguarding skills by a mock drowning where we had to rescue the victim, get them out of the water, access their condition and then perform CPR with the use of an AED.  It was kinda fun!

Thankfully, I passed the 35 question written test and I officially became a lifeguard again! I am not sure where this will all lead. I don’t have a guarding job lined up (unlike Courtney) nor any prospects on the near horizon but, I am sure my certification will come in handy sooner (hopefully) or later.

I do have the satisfaction of knowing however that I am likely one of the oldest, if not the oldest, certified lifeguard in Massachusetts!!!  The guards on Nantucket and David Hasslehoff better watch out…I’m coming for them.