With temperatures soaring into the 80s on a sunny afternoon this week, dozens of people trying to cool off in the public pool at McAllen Park in Williamsburg had half the usual space. tape.
A national lifeguard shortage has left pools and beaches across the country understaffed and in some cases closed. And in New York City, the summer season was marked by reduced capacity. Pool closure without noticelong lines to get in, cancellation of free swimming lessons.
But the city’s shortage isn’t solely due to a shortage of applicants, some of the seasonal lifeguards said. Another issue is how the city has made it difficult for people to qualify to work in pools and beaches.
According to city data, 900 applicants took the city’s lifeguard training program exam this year, with about 26% passing. To qualify, a recruit must swim her 50 yards (the length of an Olympic-sized pool) in 35 seconds or less.
The city’s lifeguard requirements are similar to those on Long Island’s national beaches, with lifeguards traveling 100 yards to prove they have the strength and stamina to traverse long distances and sometimes rescue people in rough seas. must be able to swim within 75 seconds. water.
However, New York State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preserves have less stringent requirements for lifeguards at pools and other facilities. Lifeguards must swim 50 yards in 45 seconds or less for her and 200 yards in 4 minutes or less for her. In 2019, nearly 90% of her applicants passed that swim test, according to state data.
Given the difficulty of the requirements, Vice President Thomas G. Gill American Lifesaving Association, a nonprofit professional organization of beach lifeguards and open water rescuers, said swimming 100 yards in 75 seconds is probably the hardest for most swimmers. His 50-yard swim in under 35 seconds is a little less taxing. A 200-yard swim is the easiest.
“Protecting pools and oceans is all very important and lifeguards should always be in place wherever you are,” Gill said.
“But,” he added.
Typically, the city aims to employ 1,400 to 1,500 lifeguards to staff more than 50 public pools and city-operated beaches. This year, it hired just 500 people to start the season, including new recruits, but that number had risen to 786 by the 4th of July weekend after a cohort of returning lifeguards requalified. increased to people.
The state also experienced a shortage of lifeguards earlier this season, with some free swimming lessons canceled, but most of the lifeguard slots will fill up this summer, according to a spokesperson. I got
Overall, the state has acted more nimbly than the city in responding to the national shortage, said Adam Gunther, executive director of New Yorkers for Parks, a research and advocacy group. We need to act more quickly on the issue, start recruiting early, and start looking at the broader group of potential candidates for these positions.”
Parks Service vice chairman Crystal Howard said changes to the lifeguard program, including entry requirements, must be approved by both the New York State Department of Health and the unions that bargain for the city’s lifeguards. Stated.
Thea Setterbo, the union’s public affairs director, said wages must be raised if the city wants to increase recruitment, which is “the single most effective tactic to address the lifeguard shortage.” said.
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation spokesman Megan Lalor added that the agency is “exploring many options to increase numbers and strengthen recruitment for the upcoming season.”
No data is available to show how many people failed to qualify in the last few years, Howard said. She said her agency does not track the times of swimmers who fail the test.
The lifeguard shortage isn’t a new problem, Gunther said, but it’s an urgent one. As the world becomes warmer due to climate change and summers in cities get hotter and hotter, it is very important that people without air conditioning in their homes have access to swimming pools.
Janet Fash, who has worked as the chief lifeguard at Rockaway Beach for 31 years, said the city’s lifeguard credentials need to be reassessed. The skills required to be a lifeguard in a pool are different than the skills required to rescue people in an open water environment, and exams should reflect that.
“After all, if you’re a pool attendant, how long do you really have to swim?” she asked.
A spokeswoman for the New York State Department of Health, which oversees lifeguard certification requirements statewide, said the minimum standards set by the city are aimed at certifying surf lifeguards on beaches and not on “other lifeguards, such as pools.” It exceeds the requirements of the supervisory level.”
States set minimum requirements that lifeguards must meet, but state officials say local governments are free to set their own standards.
Surf lifeguards who watch over beaches need more advanced skills to ensure they are equipped to respond to emergencies in the waters, a state spokesperson added.
The city made an effort to increase recruitment for the summer. The qualifying season has been extended to his late April, the number of sessions in which the test is conducted has increased from 15 in 2021 to 29 in 2022, and the department is looking for candidates with about 300 principals and about 3,000 I contacted a swim coach.
Mayor Eric Adams reached an agreement with the district council 37The union that negotiates the city’s lifeguards temporarily increased lifeguard wages in early July and changed the eligibility criteria for lifeguards working in the city’s 17 mini poola spokeswoman said, because they are usually seen at playgrounds, the city could hire 78 returning lifeguards in two weeks.
Fash said the city should do the same for all lifeguard positions.
State agencies, whose hiring season got off to a late start due to the wave of COVID-19 last winter, hosted 65 qualifying sessions in New York from March through 2020. In summer.
Ms. Fash has seen requirements change during her career. When she started, beach lifeguards had to swim 440 yards in 30 seconds less than current certification requirements. No. In the early 1980s, one of her first summers on the job, she remembers the city keeping its recruiting window open all summer long to alleviate a shortage of lifeguards. Told.
On Wednesday afternoon, 11 lifeguards worked various shifts at McAllen’s Olympic-sized pool. A rotation of 24 lifeguards will be required to operate at full capacity, according to the Parks Service.
Groups of lap swimmers sprinted from one side of the pool to the other in a small section specially roped for them. Anna Miller, 35, who lives nearby, said she has been coming to the public pool regularly this summer and has yet to see the entire pool open. .
Still, she said, “I’m crazy about pools.”
“It’s been a problem this year, but it’s one of New York City’s hidden gems,” she added. “It’s free, it’s a beautiful space where no one has a cell phone, and you can take your eyes off the world.”