REMEMBER: THE WORD IS LIFEGUARD, EMPHASIS ON LIFE

As we near one year since Roxie’s preventable drowning, we relive each minute of the last days we spent with her. We also relive the decisions we made, which we will forever regret.

We should have never accepted Summerkids’ statement that Roxie would be assisted in their pool by “certified lifeguards.” We implore parents to dig deeper into what that means, and consider these questions which could save a child’s life.

WHEN were you first certified?

After Roxie’s death, we learned that Roxie’s buddy counselor, who was with her in the pool when she drowned, received his lifeguard certification on June 16, twelve days before she drowned. His lifeguard certification was fake. He never received the training or any testing required by the American Red Cross. And, he had no prior lifeguard experience, despite his dubious answers in court and under his deposition. His mother said, “he was unfortunately right there...he wasn’t the one even watching, he was the fun one in the pool, he is totally blameless.” There is nothing fun about a 6-year-old dying in her son’s care. Her blaming of Roxie for drowning while her son was having fun in the pool is no less than bone-chilling.

HOW and WHERE were you certified?

Summerkids counselors were fraudulently certified as lifeguards at the campground pool during the first week of the summer session. Roxie drowned, because they had no business supervising children as young as three in a pool. This fraudulent Red Cross lifeguard certification scheme dates back to at least 2006 at Summerkids. The camp owners saved money by not paying the requisite fees and not paying for the counselor’s extra wages for being at the camp. And Roxie drowned because of it.

Summerkids owners hired counselors without any lifeguard qualifications and simply expected them to care for very young children in a high-risk environment. They should explain to thousands of parents why they chose to save a few thousand dollars in training time over properly protecting our most precious cargo... children.

Uncaring and unethical fake lifeguards are able to manipulate flawed certification processes. And camps and other facilities too often don’t do their own due diligence to ensure that aquatics environments are staffed with highly qualified, dedicated, tested professionals.

Also, the common lack of mandated “in-service training” is shocking. In-service training is the term for ongoing skills training. According to aquatics research, skills retention begins to decline only after a few months and less than half of course participants can pass a skills test one year after training. Too many online reviews of recertification courses note that it is “easy peasy.” Participants wished that instructional content was constantly made available to them.

Before you trust a lifeguard to watch your children this summer, please ask the questions we failed to ask, and then decide if that lifeguard deserves your trust. More importantly, are you confident that these lifeguards are fully committed to your child’s safety?