US lifeguard shortage causes pools to work year-round to rebuild their staff after the pandemic

Almost a third of the 309,000 U.S. public swimming pools remained closed or opened sporadically last year due to a shortage of lifeguards, according to the American Lifeguard Association (ALA). 

Employees at the public pools in some of the hottest cities in the nation, like Las Vegas and Phoenix, say their staffing took a hit during the pandemic, and it hasn’t been the same since. Now, they are working year-round to rebuild their pool staff. 

"The community wants their pools open. That's what we hear. We want our pools open," said City of Phoenix Pools Aquatics Director Becky Kirk.

Eighteen of the 29 City of Phoenix Pools are open this summer. Some pools are closed because, while the city has enough lifeguards, they don’t have enough lifeguard managers.

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"We are really good on the lifeguard side of it, but we are still continuing to struggle with the management piece. And so, hiring pool managers and assistant manager, managers to oversee the lifeguards at the sites, that is where we are continually trying to build that bench and get people to become those qualified for those positions and what not to be a manager," said Kirk.

Hiring year-round seems to be the key to having enough lifeguards during the summer.

"We start with retention with the people we've hired this year. We'll start talking about next year, coming back and try to get as many people to return. So then the recruitment piece of it begins with our junior lifeguard program this summer. So we will teach kids that are 14, 15, 16 years old how to be a lifeguard through our programs and then encourage them to apply," said Kirk. 

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Over in Sin City, where the temperatures are also soaring well into the 100s, public swimming pools work with contract companies to fill some lifeguard spots.

"They've been a big help in being able to staff here at Aquatic Springs, where we're struggling the most on our morning staff. They have staff that are Red Cross certified and are able to pick up shifts throughout the valley, not just here at Aquatic Springs. But because of that flexibility, they've been able to send us staff every morning for the last couple of months to be able to open full operations in the mornings," said Clark County Recreation Specialist Justin Gelabert.

According to americanlifeguardassociation.com the lifeguard shortage is causing some locations to hire retired firefighters and other emergency responders to address the shortage and bring experienced professionals onboard that are already trained to handle these emergencies.

ALA spokesperson Wyatt Werneth also says changing the narrative around being a lifeguard will bring in more people to the job.

"Lifeguards are the fourth agency of the fire, police and EMS. And we need to identify them, treat them like professionals that they are…we have to go through the same training that a firefighter does when it comes to the medical side: CPR, EMT, paramedic. The only difference is they go over, and they learn how to operate big trucks and blow water and climb ladders. And the lifeguards have to learn to wrestle sharks and go out into the ocean and rip. But when it comes down to saving that person, there's no difference," said Werneth.

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The ALA believes that lifeguard numbers will increase once more movies and TV shows on them come out later this year.