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to a victim of respiratory or cardiac arrestbecause, by law, they would be required toprovide care up to the level of their train

ing.

If the health professional does not havethe necessary equipment

provide

care

(upto tlie level of their training), or if theirtraining is "out of date," then they shouldnot attempt to intervene.This situation, however, is very different from that of a lifeguard who does,indeed, have a duty to act — not only torespond to the situation, but to prevent dieincident

and

to recognize the incident and/orits potential.For opetators, there are only a coupleof alternatives: Do not staff your facilitywith lifeguards. Or train, equip and ptepareyour lifeguard staff for emergency incidentsso their response to a critical incidentbecomes automatic and second nature.That means standard operating procedures need to be developed and adhered toby all personnel. Emergency response plansneed to be developed for every conceivableemergency, and lifeguards must be drilledin their response to these incidents.The National Fire Protection Association has a standard for technical rescuefJVFPA

167Q)

which in a nutshell, statesthat the authority having jurisdiction needsto conduct a comprehensive threat assess-ment and determine the level of responseneeded to effectively manage the hazardsand risks, Then it needs to plan for theincident, train for the incident, and acquirethe resources necessary to manage andrespond to the incident,Pethaps the aquatics industry shoulddevelop and adopt a similar standard.

Gerald All. DworkinConsultantLifesaviig Resources

Dublin,

N.H.

n a recent "Perspectives" article, Dr. JohniHunsucker, Ph.D., voiced concerns overthe employment of

young

lifeguards.

gen-erally concur.Lifesaving is public safety, and death isan issue that lifeguards

must

sometimes confront. Few experiences are more stressfulthan being expected to save someone in alife-and-death situation. Maturity is critica,, not only to ensure effectiveness undergreat pressure, but to deal with thechological aftereffects.Hunsucker

states

that the records of anunnamed insurance company show that nodrowning victim submerged for more thanone minute survived.This tends to implythatresuscitationefforts aftet one minute of submersion areineffective, but I think that is misleading.I suspect the tealityis thatif a victim

not observedstrugglingor submerging andan immediate effort to rescue mounted, itmay be a long while before the victim isbrought to the surface. In that case, outcome is not so much related to the qualityof tesuscitation, but the time intetvalbeforeitis attempted.

Few experiences

are

morestressful

thanbeing expectedtosavesomeone in a

life-and-deathsituation.Maturity

critical,

not

only

deal withthe

psychologicalaftereffects.

Hunsucketalso statesthat of the 12fatalities his company investigated, only<ince did a lifeguard perform resuscitation,with guests or management handling it inthe other cases. This is very troubling andsuggests somerealproblems of training andresponsibiliry thatmavindeed be associated with maturity.I have attendedmanyresuscitationefforts by professional lifeguards and havenever observed a citizen directly involvedin CPR when adequate lifeguard srnff wasat the scene. Of course, these were adultocean guards trained to EMT or first te-sponder levels.My greatest concern, however, is thatwhile Hunsucker'sarticle addresses theineffectivenessof resuscitation, he andhis company, National Aquatic Safety Co.(NASCO), continue toadvocateuse of the Heimlichmaneuverfor drowning.Inthis, theyappearto stand alonebe causeithas longbeenrejecred byinter national consensus of thenational resuscitation councils of thewotld.Inonear ticleonthe matter, whileheacknowl edgedthathis Ph.D. is in engineetinghe medically deconsttucted argumentsonthemaneuver and ultimately endorseditquipping,"I'm a hugger anddon'tkissunless 1haveto."

12 AQUATICS INTERNATIONAL | JULY/AUGUSt 2007 | www.aqwtie.inif.cmii