Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
[music]
[Announcer] Quality Recreation that's affordable, inviting all to come
out and play Welcome to Chicago at Play.
[music]
[Kiki Hernandez] First and foremost, your job is surveillance.
Your job is to watch the water.
Be it at the lakefront, be it at a pool.
[music]
[Eric Fischer] Today at Ridge Park we're here training potential lifeguards
or former lifeguards to just sharpen their skills.
[music]
[Kiki Hernandez] We offer a waterfront lifeguarding certification
through the American Red Cross.
And we actually go a total of 2 and half weeks,
40 hours required class time.
[Luke] As a kid I swam with CPD and I've seen all the lifeguards
up there, and I wanted to be like them.
So now I'm starting all the prerequisites and everything
and I want to be a lifeguard.
[Kiki Hernandez] This is a disstressed swimmer who calls
out for help close to the wall, you reach and assist.
[Announcer] Through the end of April, all ages can sign up and come
to classes to get certified
as a Chicago Park District Lifeguard.
[Eric Fischer] It's going to give the skills that we are looking
for to hire you as a lifeguard.
We'd like you to demonstrate that you have a proficiency
with swimming, comfortability, we'd like to see
that you are safe in the water before you have
to rescue someone.
It's one of the things we teach in the classes as well.
[Kiki Hernandez] We want lifeguards who are going to be vigilant,
and enjoy being either outdoors or indoors servicing the public,
and we want lifeguards who are going to take this job seriously
and realize that hey we are protecting the public here
in our own way.
[Julia] Well, A lot of my friends do it as well and it's really fun,
it's a lot of fun to work at the beaches and stuff.
And then also I have a lot of time in the summer,
and this would be a great time to spend it near what I love,
the water, and helping people out.
[Announcer] The Chicago Park District fills
over 800 lifeguard positions in the summer.
Each candidate needs to go through a series
of pre-requisites and classes to be certified
and show they are ready to serve the public.
[Kiki Hernandez] The prerequisite today is a 550 yard swim, so that's 22 laps
of the pool, and they'll have to perform eight of those laps
in the front crawl style, or freestyle.
[Luke] It wasn't timed, but you had
to make sure you finished everything, no stopping.
And then after that we have to go under water and dive
for a brick, and then after that we have
to tread water for two minutes.
[Kiki Hernandez]Ready, go!
Hands in your armpits.
[music]
[Eric Fischer] People that might need extra work can take the class early
and then come back to the pool and keep working.
We run four tests throughout the summer starting in April,
and all the way through May.
[Kiki Hernandez] It's hard for some, easy for others, we try to reach
out to anybody who can swim and has the ability to swim.
They don't have to be perfect swimmers, they don't have to be
on swim teams or anything like that.
But if they can swim,
it's definitely an opportunity for them.
[Kiki Hernandez]Make sure if you're struggling
or don't understand or you need the extra practice,
you come talk to us.
And we will work with you.
[Announcer] To learn more about the lifeguard certification
and hiring process, visit our website
at chicagoparkdistrict.com.
[Eric Fischer] The fact that you're dealing with safety.
it just makes you concentrate on dealing
with the public in a correct manner.
And we see a lot of lifeguards transition to other positions,
civil service jobs-police, fire, EMT's-because
of the work they're doing as lifeguards to start with.
We're looking for the young teens, adults,
all the way to seniors.
We've hired new lifeguards every year, some of them
in their 50's and 60's.
There's no limitations.
[Whistle Blows]
[Kiki Hernandez] We are lifeguards first and foremost, and we are here
for safety and prevention of accidents.
[music]